After first releasing it on PC back in 2020, Ubisoft’s newest reboot of Trackmania will now be coming to more platforms.
As a minor announcement from the recent Ubisoft Forward 2022 event, this new release of Trackmania will bring the off-the-rails racing experience to PS4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, as well as Amazon Luna and Google Stadia.
Trackmania (2020) brings the series back to its roots, by focusing on the Stadium setting. Players spin up their own tracks and challenge others to beat their times. Some tracks are straightforward, while others are extremely complex and technical. Trackmania tests each player’s mettle, as they navigate these various challenges with style, speed, and grace.
The tracks in Trackmania can essentially be described as rollercoaster meets skatepark; some sections will have you rotating through corkscrews, while others will vault your car off of a steep incline before descending back into a new section and rocketing down the rest of the way. How challenging things get all depends on the creator. Indeed, this is a very different style of racing game.
With its community-focused gameplay, it should be no surprise that online multiplayer plays a big part in Trackmania. Solo gameplay really still has some level of multiplayer functionality to it, as you’ll be playing against another player’s ghost.
The overall goal is to keep getting good times in order to rank up and collect medals.
The game’s ‘season’ changes every three months, shaking up the gameplay with a selection of new community tracks to challenge you. There’s also a featured “Track of the Day” to constantly keep pointing you in a new direction.
What sets this new release of Trackmania apart from some of the series’ other releases is that this one is free-to-play, but also not. That’s because it has subscription-based access tiers.
On the game’s main landing page over on the Ubisoft Store, there’s a chart that describes what each membership option offers.
All players start with the totally free and aptly named “Starter” pack, which allows you to simply jump into the game and enjoy the content—fair enough. In order to enjoy the “Creation” and “Competition” features, you’ll have to buy at least the Standard 1-Year Access Pass, which costs $9.99 USD.
To enjoy the ‘full’ Trackmania experience, however, you’ll need to shell out for Club Access. This comes in 1 Year or 3 Year options for $29.99 and $59.99 USD, respectively. The Club Access includes all of the aforementioned features, in addition to “Social” and “Customization” features.
Trackmania will be racing onto PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia in “early 2023,” though an exact release date has not yet been announced. It can also be purchased via Ubisoft Connect, which is Ubisoft’s own subscription service.