GPS
A so called GPS in the TrackMania series of games means to show the player which route to take on a track by using the game's media tracker .
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[edit] Overview
The need for GPS' was created when advanced tracks for TrackMania Nations ESWC became more and more complicated and since this version of TrackMania does not support respawning from checkpoints meaning you need to finish a track in one go.
The concept of a GPS soon spread over to the other versions of TrackMania and is now widely used by track builders for tracks which have no obvious route.
GPS' can be built in two styles, either for the whole track from start to finish or just as short inserts for the next logical part of the track when the player takes the wrong route.
There are currently two known methods to build a GPS, manually producing a camera tracking shot for the track or importing a ghost.
[edit] Manually producing a tracking shot
Manually producing a tracking shot means doing a camera race over the track by placing camera keys (a.k.a. key frames) on appropriate route marks.
[edit] Advantages
- Works with all versions of TrackMania which provide the media tracker.
- Allows for fast-motion camera race
- You don't need to drive well
[edit] Disadvantages
- Does need quite some work until it's presentable
- Can be difficult to maintain a smooth constant speed
- Curves can be difficult to include
[edit] Importing a ghost
Since the introduction of TrackMania Forever, it is possible to import a previously recorded replay into the media tracker to be shown as GPS.
[edit] Advantages
- Can be made fairly quickly
- No complicated manual designing and timing the camera race
[edit] Disadvantages
- Does not work with every version of TrackMania
- Always takes as long as racing the track, e.g. a 1:30 min track means a 1:30 min GPS
