Question to all TM2 players--what's wrong with Canyon?

[Wormii]

Nothing is wrong with the car. It's brilliant. But instead of numeral platform blocks that you can't even use for non-rpg maps there should be more basic road blocks. Especially those inclined blocks & corners are very limited.

It says 0.76 texel/min...

[Garreth]

I didn't like the way the car behaved at first sight but now, i'm getting used to it ok !
What was truely wrong was that analog (wheel, pedals on top of it) wasn't handled correctly in game. (still isn't)
Hopefully, I can map it with joytokey app outside and now I can brake/drift almost like everyone.

-Another thing is offroad behavior. I can live with the fact that a car can't drive totally straight on sand and small bumps but I feel it's way too much out of control. This lowers creativity about mapping, sorry.

- Cam3 is too low (as others it seems) but I have to do with it since TMO.
- As others, narrow roads are tricky to drive when you come from platforms
- I respect work done but it's hard to think there was so much spent time when you have a look at game interface (same as before TMUF), map editor, MT...
- There was no demo, we'll see if this prevents wannabe customers to buy the game...

Globally, I like this new environment but I believe that Hylis is overselling it as a totally new game.
Basis were already there, so it feels like there was a whole improvment, not a real new game

As Hylis like them so much : my apologies, never meant to hurt your lovely sweet heart

[RdVortex]

In my opinion there are two things wrong with Canyon.

1: There should be an option for bonnet camera on the car. It's sometimes quite hard to see obstacles such as holes in the track from the bumper camera since it's positioned so low.

2: There should be an option to callvote extend on the current map. On harder maps one so often gets close to finishing so extending the map time instead of restarting would allow more people to finish.

Other than that it's a good game.

[microbit1984]

I wasn't sure what I was in for.. An Impulse buy as trackmania is fantastic.

Not nearly as impressed as I had hoped for after the prvious racing styles love those dune buggy maps in the other game.

That said, money well spent... Fun game and hpe LOTS is fixed for final.

[webas]

after the patch the cameras are much better, but you still find sometimes your car blocking the view for 3seconds at the times..
textures are better, and cars too.. map editor doesnt lag much.

Car visual damage is still not optional but required.Thats not fair.
Trees, brushes, clouds are 2d and rotates on their axes...Thats not cute.
And thats quite it.

[mrbish82]

Loops are the main part of the game i don't think works right, i've played on a number of tracks that are really well designed, a mixture of wide and fast turns, and some that require drifting, then there's a loop section and no matter how well you line up the approach, the car just pulls to the side about half way through. I don't mind loops that take a bit of practice but there seems to be no obvious reason the car would behave like this on a loop.

[ConteAlessio]

Loops are the main part of the game i don't think works right, i've played on a number of tracks that are really well designed, a mixture of wide and fast turns, and some that require drifting, then there's a loop section and no matter how well you line up the approach, the car just pulls to the side about half way through. I don't mind loops that take a bit of practice but there seems to be no obvious reason the car would behave like this on a loop.

Quoted for truth, but i just afraid that if Nadeo staffs are going to change it, they will have to re-code something about driving mechanics.
I was even going to post this, but since it has been already pointed out, no matter.
It's beta, let's see if everything will effectively fixed, let's complain and asking troubles only when full game is released, ie, in a week.

[StarlightGamer]

A couple of criticisms I have with the game:

1. Spectating should be a bit more intuitive. It took me a long time to figure it out. When there's somebody doing better than I am by a certain amount, I can be sure that I'm doing something fundamentally wrong. That's when I go into spectating mode and watch that person.

When I go into spectating mode, I switch from auto to manual. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I can't switch away from auto, and I have no idea why. When I'm in manual, I have to go to the scoreboard and right click the person I want to spectate. First of all, I had no idea what the scoreboard key was, because there's no reason to ever use that key normally. Between that and the fact that you have to right click the person, I probably would have never picked it up if it wasn't for the existence of a post in these forums of somebody else having problems doing the same thing.

2. Loops and wallrides. I'd be beating a dead horse if I went any further, but I'll just say that the veering off that happens in loops is very annoying, like mrbish82 said.

3. I also have a big problem with maps that take camera control away from the user. With the exceptions of wallrides and loops, of course. I don't know why map makers are allowed to do this. I've never actually seen this ability used in a way that I would consider good or necessary.

Now the next things are personal problems or just aren't Nadeo's fault.

I seem to have a hard time finding fun in this game. The only thing to do, really, is beat the other players in that particular race. So when I come in a place below third, it's not a good feeling. I was thinking about it in a race the other day, and this is what I came up with to describe it: "Fun in this game is like a mythical creature. It's rare, but every so often you catch a glimpse of it, and it's really beautiful. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it's gone again."

Apparently there's some huge ability to pick up on the perfect "line" that I'm just not getting. When I get a really awesome time, I'm usually left wondering "how did that happen?!" Even the high placing victories often seem hollow because it's essentially dumb luck to me. I've had a few players try to explain the way to pick up on the perfect lines, and I thanked them, but it doesn't really seem like something that can be explained in words. I'm hoping that I'll pick up on that skill eventually, but I really have no idea how.

And yes, accumulating LP may also be a goal, but that system really exacerbates the above problem. Before I knew it, I was almost at 10,000 LP, and the servers it wants me to join are full of people so good with such robotic precision, that I'm lucky if I even show up in the first page of the scoreboard at the end. Even then, I'm getting bunches of LP by placing terribly. Maybe it'll balance out as the game gets older or something, but I hate having to choose servers rated as far below me in average rank so I can occasionally end up in the top three.

And then there's the fact that it seems like there are very few Americans playing this game. When I look at USA in the server list, there are a bunch of servers, but only like 5-10 players combined. Most of my fond memories of TMForever involved a cool clan of English-speaking players whose server I frequented. I find that having a social element to the game improves it significantly, but most of the time few of my opponents speak English.

This post ended up being several times longer than I anticipated, so thanks if you read through the entire thing.

Edit: And while it is "realistic" to be blinded by darkness when entering a tunnel and be blinded by light when exiting, I don't think it's a very good gameplay mechanic.

Edit: I have to try really hard to keep my frustration from coloring my post, because otherwise I end up with statements like something I wanted to post that wouldn't have been constructive: maybe there's a connection between the total frustration quotient of this game and the complete lack of any American flags compared to French and German flags. Maybe we can't take the masochism.

Edit: Just found this awesome mod with RPG elements on a server with active admins. This is just what I needed.

[EnaiSiaion]

The loop handling is because the car is drifty and in a loop gravity is working the other way so it is even more drifty. Solution - magnetic loops.

[azza1120]

There's nothing wrong with trackmania itself it's just some of the user made tracks aren't that great