Singleplayer mode question

[Davey360]

Hey, I have some questions about Trackmania 2 Valley.
On singleplayer mode, how do you set official times? And how do you gain skill points on singleplayer mode?
Thanks

[TMarc]

Official times can only be driven if you have reached gold medal during the training.
And then it takes 5 minutes between each official trial before you are allowed do the next attempt.
By reaching medals in official time mode, you also get skillpoints and additional planets.

[EntropicLqd]

Be aware that if you create a group so you can more easily race against your friends official times the 5 minute per official time will mean that the fastest driver is the one with the most free time.

As far as I understand it, the whole "official time" thing is Nadeo's attempt to add a bit of an adrenaline rush when driving an official time. It matters if you stuff up because it "costs" you (for some given value or type of cost). While this can occasionally have the desired effect, it does have unintended side effects that render the idea utterly self-defeating.

In the first TM, you had to spend coppers in order to be able to set an official time. The unintended side effect of this meant that the person with the most coppers (typically the one who remembered to log on every day) had the fastest times because they could simply burn through coppers until they'd achieved the fastest time.

In the second TM you have to get a gold medal first (fair enough), and then wait 5 minutes between each official time attempt. The unintended side effect of this is that the person in the group with the most disposable time achieves the fastest time because they have time to keep re-trying it.

In the small group of friends I have that play the game, I have the fastest time in the group on every single track. Not because I'm the best driver; but because I have the most time. I work away from home a lot so I play TM while sat in a hotel room on a laptop. In both TMs the restrictions on setting the fastest time basically killed all competition in solo play.

Since we are rarely all on-line at the same time it renders that part of the game an abject failure. The 5 minute restriction doesn't make the competition more exciting; it kills it stone dead.