Trackmania Turbo

Trackmania Turbo
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Nadeo
Publisher	Ubisoft
Platform	PlayStation 4, Windows
Device	PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive
Type	Game
Genre	Racing
Input Device	DualShock 4 (PlayStation 4)
Game Mode	Single-player, Multiplayer
Release Date	22 March 2016 (PlayStation 4, North America); 24 March 2016 (PC); VR update 8 November 2016
Price	US$39.99 (Steam)
App Store	PlayStation Store, Steam

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Trackmania Turbo (stylized Trackmania® Turbo on store listings) is an arcade racing game developed by Nadeo and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. It launched on 22 March 2016 for consoles in North America and on 24 March 2016 for PC. The main game is played on a flat screen. Virtual reality support arrived later, on 8 November 2016, as a free update that added a separate set of 40 VR-only tracks for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive owners, along with a free four-track VR demo.

The VR tracks are played mostly from a high third-person camera that switches to a first-person cockpit view for some stunt sections. Destructoid, playing on PlayStation VR, found the mode comfortable despite the series' large jumps and magnetic tracks, while TheVRGrid warned that the switch between camera views could be nauseating and found much of the VR content short and easy.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Developer, publisher, platforms, release dates, 2015 delay and VR announcement, VR update date, VR track count, camera, demo contents, store requirements and prices, PlayStation Plus offer, Metacritic and Steam figures, and every quote against the cited pages. About review dates.

Overview

Trackmania Turbo was announced by Ubisoft on 15 June 2015 as a new game in Nadeo's arcade racing series; Ubisoft called it the first time a single Trackmania game would arrive on PC and consoles at the same time. The game has four environments: Rollercoaster Lagoon, International Stadium, Canyon Grand Drift and Valley Down & Dirty. Its campaign unlocks more than 200 tracks, and it includes Double Driver, a cooperative mode in which two players control the same car, and the Trackbuilder track editor. The PlayStation Store listing describes each environment's focus (magnetic tracks in Rollercoaster Lagoon, drifting in Canyon Grand Drift, air control and jumps in Valley Down & Dirty) and gives support for 1 to 32 players, with up to 32 online players for PlayStation Plus members.

VR content

The VR update did not convert the whole game to virtual reality. Instead it added 40 tracks built for VR, spread across the game's four environments; Road to VR described "a total of 40 tracks spanning 4 different environments", and TheVRGrid counted 10 tracks per environment. In-game text calls the content a "VR Experience". TheVRGrid's review lists two ways to play the VR tracks: a Campaign that unlocks them in order, and an Arcade mode that gives the player a few attempts at a high score before a restart. It timed most tracks at around 30 seconds, with a range of about 15 to 60 seconds.

The camera is the main difference from a conventional cockpit racer. Road to VR found the VR mode to be "almost entirely in the third-person with brief interludes that auto-zoom you into the first-person", and noted that there was no "always on" option for the first-person view. Jordan Devore of Destructoid, playing on PlayStation VR, wrote that the camera is "positioned high up and almost feels like it's on-rails or at least guided, to some extent", although the player still steers freely and can look up, down and behind. On sharp zigzags the camera stays fairly centered instead of following each turn. The view switches to a cockpit during wall-riding, when passing under obstacles and on upside-down magnetic track sections; in some of these, Devore wrote, "the camera is so tight that you might have to tilt your head straight up to see the path in front of you". UploadVR also described the PlayStation VR mode as third-person and noted the lack of cockpit driving.

On the PlayStation 4, the VR content requires a PlayStation VR headset and a PlayStation Camera, and the store page warns that VR games may cause motion sickness in some players. The game is also playable on PlayStation 5; for PlayStation VR on PS5 the listing says a PlayStation Camera adaptor is required and recommends a DualShock 4 controller. On PC, the Steam listing marks the game as VR supported, with "SteamVR or Oculus PC" as the VR runtime requirement, and recommends a GeForce GTX 970 or AMD Radeon R9 290, an Intel Core i5 4590 or AMD FX-8350, and 8 GB of RAM for VR.

Development and release

A limited demo of Trackmania Turbo was shown in Sony's booth at E3 2015 for Project Morpheus, the prototype that became PlayStation VR; Road to VR, reporting from the show, said it was not yet certain that the VR mode would reach the final release. TheSixthAxis writer Stefan L later recalled playing a short VR demo of the game at Gamescom 2015.

Ubisoft originally scheduled the game for 1 December 2015 in the United States. On 1 October 2015, Game Informer reported that it had been delayed to early 2016 because Nadeo needed more time. After Paris Games Week, Ubisoft announced that the game would support the Oculus Rift on PC and PlayStation VR on PS4 when those headsets launched, which was then expected in the first half of 2016. Gamereactor reported at the time that every game mode and track would be VR-ready. The VR support that shipped a year later was the separate 40-track set described above, and it added the HTC Vive, which had not been part of the 2015 announcement.

The free VR update was released on 8 November 2016 for owners of the game on PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. A free demo for players without the game was released at the same time, with four tracks: two from the Canyon environment's campaign section and two from the Lagoon environment's arcade section. It was about 3 GB, available through Steam for Rift and Vive and through the PlayStation Store for PlayStation VR, and PC players needed a Uplay account to run it. GameWatcher reported that the demo appeared to be absent from Ubisoft's own Uplay store at launch. Road to VR reported at the same time that the game also supported the newly released PlayStation 4 Pro.

The PS4 version was one of the two headline PlayStation Plus games for April 2018, available to members from 3 April. The PlayStation Blog announcement pointed out that the game "also boasts support for PS VR".

Platform	Release	Notes
PlayStation 4	22 March 2016 (North America); 24 March 2016 (United Kingdom store listing)	Flat-screen game
PC (Steam)	24 March 2016	Flat-screen game; requires a third-party Uplay account
PlayStation VR (PS4)	8 November 2016	Free update with 40 VR tracks; four-track demo on the PlayStation Store
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive (PC)	8 November 2016	Same free update; four-track demo on Steam

As of October 2026, the game is still sold on Steam at US$39.99 and lists VR support for SteamVR and Oculus PC headsets. The PlayStation Store still lists the PS4 version with PS VR content.

Reception

Reviews of the base game appeared before the VR update. On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version holds a Metascore of 81 from 52 critic reviews, the PC version 79 from 13 reviews and the Xbox One version 76 from 12 reviews. On Steam, user reviews for the PC version are rated "Mixed", with 66% of 1,528 reviews positive.

Publication	Score	Notes
Metacritic (PS4)	81/100	52 critic reviews, base game
Metacritic (PC)	79/100	13 critic reviews, base game
Metacritic (Xbox One)	76/100	12 critic reviews, base game
TheVRGrid	6.5/10	VR content only, PlayStation VR

Impressions of the VR content mostly addressed comfort. Devore of Destructoid had worried that the game's large jumps, wall drifting and coaster-like magnetic tracks would make him nauseous but reported no discomfort, crediting the camera, which he said "feels completely smooth". He found most tracks short and easy, often earning gold medals on the first attempt, and said he wanted more levels and more camera options. TheSixthAxis added a note from its writer Tuffcub after trying the update: "It's rather good and some of the tracks are proper rollercoasters."

Ryan Ouellette of TheVRGrid gave the VR content 6.5 out of 10. He praised the level design and wrote that "some tracks are insanely fun", but he earned gold medals on every course in about 90 minutes, called many of the VR tracks "throw-aways", and warned that the switch from third to first person "could be nauseating". He valued the VR content alone at about US$20 and advised waiting for a sale. When the game joined PlayStation Plus in 2018, UploadVR's Jamie Feltham wrote that he had not reviewed the PlayStation VR support himself but that the VR community "seemed to be quite fond of it" despite the third-person camera.