India's TrackMania Nations Forever Dilemma

With Naveen “nuaron” Uraon picking up a electronic sports world cup slot to be held in France later this year, it begs the question whether its India’s biggest chance of doing well in this particular game? TrackMania Nations Forever is a game which is quite different from other racing games as it involves a lot of jumps and twists n turns.

The unique thing about TrackMania in India is that it has just over 12 thousand registered users, which is extremely low when compared to other games and if we compare this sum to that of Germany’s, they have over 25 lakh registered users. Yes, 25 lakh!!! For the first time India’s population is less!!! Still India manages to send a competitor to the ESWC every year without fail. It is also considered one of the top TrackMania teams in Asia by many of the professional players. Robert “Tamarillo” Crone who is a part of team Netherlands, team Acer and the top rider of the Benelux region says

” Although Asia has a long way to go in terms of development in TrackMania, I would say India is ahead of the pack in Asia”. This coming from a seasoned pro is quite something for a semi professional scene present here in India.

Another problem for TrackMania in India has to deal with is, living in the shadow of the game called “NEED FOR SPEED”. It is by far the most popular racing game present in India. Infact to the extent that all the semi-pro racers here in India actually started of as NFS professionals.

In the recently concluded ESWC India also showed us the gaming youth are making progress in TrackMania with 13 year old Rohan Karir finishing second place just behind nuaron. It also shows to us that India has a future in this game as well.

Nalin “mindfreak” Nagpal says ” It’s just shocking 25 lakhs to 12 thousand registered user, SHOCKING!!”.

With Naveen Uraon carrying India’s hopes to the ESWC. We all wish him the best of luck!! But it also raises a question that with just 12 thousand players in the game, will India manage to give respectable performance on the asian and world stage? An Indian clan known as the “devils” managed to play against team YOYOTECH, the number one team in the world then but they lost miserably. Getting a chance to play with them is a very hard thing and winning against them is a different ball game.

So does Trackmania deserve more exposure in India to games like counter strike and more investment? Yes i think so.