Introduction
Heads up! For all these settings, we’ll be going to Input in the Settings menu. To access the Settings menu, just move your cursor to the top of the screen and click on the gear icon top right. Then, select Input. Under the first subheading, Device, select Edit device and select the controller you are using.
Camera Change
See Jnic, a Trackmania streamer and content creator, show you the differences between the multiple cams.
You may have noticed a big problem when you drive on ice with Cam 2: your camera points straight ahead, yet you’re in a full ice slide and need to be looking to the side. Or sometimes, you’re in a loop and you can’t see where you are going. Don’t fear, cam changes are here!
How Cam Changes Will Give You an Advantage:
- Cam 1 will point in the direction of momentum on an ice slide. Also useful when you are in a bobsleigh!
- Cam 3 is perfect for loops and wallrides (but usually the mapper sets an auto cam change).
- Cam 2 is what you need on steeply inclined surfaces. It will give you a better view of what’s ahead.
How to Apply Cam Changes
- Input > Player Bindings > Change Camera.
- Bind to preferred key. I have this bound to R1.
Action Keys
Action Keys were introduced towards the end of 2021, and boy, are they a game-changer. Initially, the problem they set out to solve was to allow keyboard players to smooth steer i.e. steer at 20% or 50% or whatever percent, previously only possible on controllers. Basically what it does is, when you full steer and press an Action Key, say Action Key 3, then your steering will be at 3 * 10%, 30%. Yet, because of the consistency it brought, even controller users started binding specific Action Keys for specific parts of a map.
How Action Keys Will Give You an Advantage:
- Bind Action Key 3 to give you the perfect water bounce. Players discovered that 30% steering on a water bounce, plus brake, gives you a speed boost.
- Use an Action Key for the perfect speed slide on a tough FS map.
- Use an Action Key for the perfect turn on a tough precision map.
How to Apply Action Keys
(you’ll want to use this for specific maps that you’re competing on or hunting. This means you can sometimes sacrifice your cam change bind, or your honking bind or even your menu bind.)
- Input > Player Bindings > Action Key X.
- Bind it to an available key. You’ll want to select something that you can click while steering, braking and accelerating.
- Input > Player Bindings > Action Key 0.
- This will reset your steering to 100%. Same as before, select something that you can click while steering, braking and accelerating.
Low Sensitivity
Action Keys can’t always come to your rescue, you’ve got a limited number you can bind to your controller. If you watch the Pro streamers, you can see their inputs, and when you see their inputs you realize how important smooth steering is, i.e., steer at 50% or 70% or whatever.
How Low Sensitivity Will Give You an Advantage:
- Low sensitivity gives you more room to smooth steer.
- Smooth steering can give you the edge in driving the right lines.
How to Apply Low Sensitivity
- Input > Analog Settings > Analog sensitivity.
- Drag it all the way to the right for the lowest setting.
High Sensitivity
Ok, ok, ok, hold your horses. You can’t always have everything. Yes, low sensitivity gives you smooth steering superpowers, but it comes at the cost of your reaction time. It means there are those couple of milliseconds more before you can full steer. You’ll have to gauge what’s more important: reaction speed or smooth steering. Take the Human Benchmark Reaction Time Test to see where you stand compared to everyone else:
How High Sensitivity Will Give You an Advantage:
- It increases your reaction speed.
- Very important for tough tech maps where you have to change direction drastically, frequently.
How to Apply High Sensitivity
- Input > Analog Settings > Analog sensitivity.
- Drag it all the way to the left for the highest setting.
Disable Rumble
Ugh. This is what happened. I booted Trackmania for the first time, eager to play this exciting new game. I opened my first track. Vroom I go and then bam, first turn, I drift and get this totally distracting rumble. Yes, this is down to personal choice, but tell me, why turn it on? What’s wrong with you? Are you… are you a Reddit mod?
How Disabling Rumble Will Give You an Advantage:
- Keep your focus on the track.
- Stops you from being a Reddit mod.
How to Disable Rumble
- Input > Analog Settings > Rumble intensity.
- Drag it all the way to the left to turn it off.
Dead Zone
You’ve driven the perfect run, you’re on PB pace, by 0.5 no less. You complete the final turn, on the perfect trajectory for the finish, you let go of the steering and then, bonk, your car mysteriously veered off to the right into a tree. Yup, you’ve got dead zone problems. That’s when the resting position of your analog stick causes the car to steer. It happens as the controller ages, but don’t worry there’s a fix.
How Managing Your Deadzone Will Give You an Advantage:
- Stops your car from veering off to the side.
- Your car does what you tell it to do.
How to Apply Deadzone Settings
- Input > Analog Settings > Analog dead zone.
- You’ll have to play around with it so that it’s as low as it can be without your car auto steering.
Unbind Give Up
I mean, have you watched the video? There are a few situations where you really don’t want to accidentally give up. In the middle of a knockout competition, horrible timing. Even worse? How about on checkpoint 99/100 on an RPG. There are a few occasions where unbinding Give Up is necessary.
How Unbinding Give Up Will Give You an Advantage:
- Give you peace of mind that you won’t do something dumb.
How to Unbind Give Up
- Input > Device > Unbind one button.
- Click whatever button you have for Give Up.
Show/Hide Opponents
Look, it can go either way here. Sometimes, seeing your opponents on a ranked match can motivate you to push that extra bit further. Other times, there’s nothing more distracting than seeing the nose of an opponent edging into the screen, or the swathe of cars surrounding you on COTD. Case in point, the video above.
How Showing/Hiding Opponents Will Give You an Advantage:
- Showing: Give you that fuel to beat your opponent.
- Hiding: Give you the full focus mode.
- Hiding: Can solve some issues of other cars jumping because of lag issues.
- Hiding: On big comps with many players, showing opponents can just clutter your screen.
How to Show/Hide Opponents
- Click O on your keyboard. Since you can change this setting between rounds, there’s no need to bind it to the precious real estate on your controller.
Bind Accelerate and Brake to Digital Input
Check the inputs in the video and notice something: only the steering is analog in Trackmania. I’ve had friends believe, to their core, that they are throttling the acceleration with an analog trigger. Then I have to message all their friends, organize an intervention and say “Hey, you’ve lost the plot buddy, acceleration is either on or off in Trackmania. Come here buddy, we love you.” Same goes for braking.
How Binding Accelerate/Brake Will Give You an Advantage:
- You’re faster to accelerate, you’re faster to release.
- You’re faster to brake, faster to drift.
How to Bind Accelerate/Brake
- Input > Player Bindings > Accelerate.
- Bind it to a digital input (I have it bound to A on an Xbox controller).
- Input > Player Bindings > Brake.
- Bind it to a digital input (I have it bound to L1).
Bind Horn
Oh, now this is a nice one. Have you ever nailed the perfect line and slowly, but inevitably passed your opponent ahead. Nothing, I mean nothing, is more satisfying than sounding a little honk as you go flying by, waving as you do.
How Binding Your Horn Will Give You an Advantage:
- Massive ego boost wen you pass opponents.
- You can actually distract your opponents. For maximum effect, add a custom horn of a dude yelling or something like that.
How to Bind Your Horn
- Input > Player Bindings > Horn.
- Bind it to whatever works (I have it bound to B on an Xbox controller).
