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5 Tips on How to Improve Your Skills in TrackMania² Stadium

Let's put things into high gear.

TrackMania² Stadium has garnered a cult following of passionate and talented fans over the years. Now larger than ever, the title is seeing thousands of hours of air time on Twitch through racing streamers. If you want to catch up to the crowd and get behind the wheel of this incredible game, first check out the tips down below.

1. Master Traction

A huge part of maintaining your speed in TrackMania² Stadium is about understanding how to manipulate your traction. That being said, staying on the road is not all that easy.

Each vehicle in TrackMania² Stadium handles differently. Beyond that, each block type on each track will affect your traction in different ways. Consequently, you will have to place a significant amount of time testing your skills on each track with each vehicle if you want to learn how to best master traction.

After completing a track, head on over to mania-exchange.com to compare your results with the community’s. This can be a great way to gauge your progress.

2. Keyboard or Gamepad?

Choosing between a keyboard and a gamepad for your input device can be tough. However, they each have their advantages.

More often than not, your keyboard will suffer less input lag than a common gamepad will. That being said, a gamepad will offer greater levels of precision with your in-game steering wheel.

Consider experimenting with both options early on before building too much muscle memory on either device.

3. Take Practice Sessions

A unique advantage you have when completing a practice session is that you can finish a race even if you crash. This is an incredibly useful feature.

When you first start playing, you are going to need to practice, practice and practice some more. If you skip the practice sessions, however, you will find yourself crashing and being unable to finish most tracks. This will lead to you having a lopsided level of experience with the early stages of certain tracks and nearly no experience with the late stages of those same tracks.

Balance things out by taking advantage of finishing each track.

4. Which Camera Angle Should You Use?

There are three different camera angles in TrackMania² Stadium. Each camera option offers its own advantages and disadvantages, so you will need to experiment with all three options early on before putting too much time into any single option.

The first camera angle is perhaps the most well rounded. It distances your vision the farthest from the vehicle, offering something closer to a bird’s eye view. This will allow you to see opponents creeping next to you with ease. However, keeping up with your car in tight corridors may become difficult.

The second camera angle is closer to the car, offering less situational awareness. However, you will now be able to keep up with your car in those tight corridors.

Lastly, there is the closest camera angle. This angle will, however, allow you to better see opponents in front of you.

5. Do Not Play With a Disabled HUD

Many players enjoy deactivating their HUDs so that they can race without the distracting display. That being said, the HUD is there for a reason. Use it.

By monitoring your opponents, you can tell when it is okay to drive safe and when you need to put the pedal to the metal. If you don’t have your HUD up, then keeping in check with your rivals will become quite difficult.

Hunter Boyce is a writer, which probably seems pretty obvious with "author" prominently displayed. He mostly writes about video games. However, he was previously a mixed martial arts news writer. When not writing about people pelting each other in the face or about leveling up in the latest RPG, he tends to spend his time as a web producer in Atlanta. You can shout all of your MMA and video game related quandaries at him at @SomthinClever on Twitter. Feel free to make your demands to him in ALL CAPS. He loves that.

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