Steam and Trackmania

As I started yesterday, I want to focus on another racing game that I loved from the past decade, but just could not justify putting on my 'top 10.' Before I get to that though, I thought I would point out that the Steam holiday sale is on NOW. I can highly recommend The Witcher for only $13.50, as well as Torchlight for $10. Also, if you missed it when it was on sale before, be sure to grab Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which is $5. I personally own those already, so I picked up Braid, Trine, Defense Grid: The Awakening, World of Goo, and Audiosurf for $20 total. Not bad if I do say so myself, and it gives me stuff to play on PC while my girlfriend plays my 360 (damn Dragon Age and its addictive qualities). Anyway, on to what I guess has become my mini list of racing games of the decade.

Trackmania United (on sale right now for $20 on Steam, btw)
For those racing fans who have not heard of this PC gem, look it up right now. Think hot wheels, with loops and jumps all over the place. Add in a complete track creator and thousands of user created tracks you can play online, and you have the makings for a fun racing game. For better or worse, you can play this game entirely with the arrow keys as well.

The community is what makes this game, and a little searching online will net you tons of new car models to use in the game in addition to tons of tracks. The game also has its own currency (NOT real $$$, but tokens that are awarded for doing things in game) that can be used to 'buy' tracks or cars that people have made, or to 'donate' to servers that you enjoy.

The online racing rewards ranks based on time/points, and it is easy to see how you rank in your own state/country/world. The only downside is that it is purely time based, offering no collisions or actual 'racing.' In fact, the most popular mode has you on a track for 5 minutes or so, in which time you must set your top 'lap' time. You can (and will) restart instantly as many times as you need to ensure you get that one perfect run. The plus side to this is the number of people that can be on the server is only limited to the server itself, often leading to competitions with 20+ people.

When playing online though you are often subject to some questionable tracks, leading to decisions to either stick through it or try and find a new server. This can be frustrating, as I have come across a large number of tracks online I could never even hope to finish a single run on. Also, you must be on a server for one race before you start to earn ladder points, so server hopping will not lead you to rank up, if that is what you are aiming for.

This game is just flat-out fun, but there is no great way to automatically add any of the great tracks you find online to your local copy, which is a big letdown (you may be able to find them to buy for the in game currency, but finding that individual track is quite the challenge). Also, the single player modes are fairly uninspired. A fun time waster and well worth the money for sure, but it doesn't really fit into a top 10 decade discussion.