Taking the Speed-Bump Obstacle

This lesson is about the 'speed-bump' obstacle. The name speed-bump is obviously not correct because it is not a bump that you encounter, it is actually a dent in the road that makes your car get out of balance and, most of the time, makes it flip over. So let's call it the 'speed-dent' obstacle, ok?

Anyway, how do you take this obstacle without losing any speed? Well, there is one way that involves some advanced driving skillz. You need some practice to master it, but once you have, you can improve your track times a lot, and this is what the driving school is all about, no?

Once again, I have taken some screenshots from three replays to explain how it is done. The purple car is again driven by a non-experienced driver ;) He/She thinks the obstacle can be faced head-on. This is of course a big mistake; the car hits one of the bumps, loses its balance and flips over.

The yellow cars do it correctly. This is how:

1. Make sure you are aligned in the middle of the road.
2. Just before the obstacle, swoop to the left or to the right until your left-side or right-side wheels are in the dirt. Now it becomes tricky: don't' go too far left or right because you will hit the stones placed there obviously by the Nadeo designers to discourage us of cheating ;) Just when you reach the perfect point, align your car again so it is parallel to the road.
3. If you do everything right (and trust me, you won't the first time :) ), you are now driving on two wheels, sliding over the small curbs at the outsides of the speed-dents.
4. Just after the obstacle, drive slowly towards the middle of the road.
5. Your car will return to 4 wheel driving and continue its way without losing any speed! Et voila!

Beginner Tips & Tricks

Because these posts are mostly for TrackMania beginners, I want to give some beginner tips & tricks that will help you improve your track times:

Learn From Other Players
There are many excellent sources on the Internet where you can download replays from other players (for example, TrackMania Exchange.).
You can view these replays in TM and you can even play against the player in the replay. I achieved most of my best times by playing the replay files I downloaded from the Internet.

Learn The Tracks By Heart
There is no way that you can achieve the best time, if you do not know the track by heart. You need to be able to anticipate every corner and every jump in order to place your car at the ideal spot on the track to handle that obstacle.

No Skid Marks, Please!
When taking a hard turn and slipping away or when braking too hard, your wheels will draw skid marks on the tarmac. Every time this happens, you are basically losing speed. So try to avoid this.

You Can Accelerate & Decelerate in Mid-Air
That's right! The people of Nadeo probably thought this would make a nice special thing in their physics engine ;)While in the air after a jump, you can hit the brakes or floor the accelerator to decelerate or accelerate the car in mid air!

Driving on Two Wheels
Driving on two wheels enables you to go really fast through a turn. But be careful not to slip away, because this leaves skid marks, and you know what that does...

Driving From Off Road Onto Tarmac

When you are driving off road and returning to tarmac, you need to make sure you align your car exactly right to make sure you do not lose too much speed or worse, jump up and flip over.

It is best to return onto tarmac one side of your car at a time. So drive on the far left or far right of the track at a very small angle towards the middle of the track. Try to avoid driving in the middle, because this holds unfortunate surprises...

1. This is the ideal position to return on tarmac after off roading.
2. Although most of the time this position is OK, sometimes your car will jump up and lose it's balance.
3. Again a perfect location, now on the right side of the track.

Long Turns, 180º

We need to make these kind of turns without losing any speed.
The key to doing this, is driving in the inner lane, as close to the center as possible:

1. Start at the far side of the outer lane.
2. Gently steer towards the middle of the track and keep on steering.
3. Make sure you are already positioned in the inner lane when the turn starts.
4. Try to drive as close to the center of the turn as possible. Depending on your speed, you will be driving on two wheels.
5. Make sure you stay in the inner lane until the end of the turn.
6. Just before the turn ends, let go gently but keep steering until you end up in the middle of the track.
7. If everything went smooth, you will not have lost any speed while taking the turn.
   

Short Turns, 180º

This is basically the same maneuver as taking the long turn but you will need to make sure not to go too fast when taking it. You almost always drive on two wheels through a turn like this.

1. Try to decelerate as little as possible but do not go too fast. If you need to brake, brake before the turn!
2. Make sure you start of as far as possible in the outer lane but be careful not to touch the curb or drive off the track! Now, gently start making your turn.
3. Steer more and more aggressively towards the inside of the turn. Be careful not to slip out of the turn!
4. When everything went well, and with a little bit of luck, you will be at the inside of the turn, driving on two wheels with your inside wheels above the dirt.
5. Return to 4 wheel driving and gently steer out of the turn.
6. You will end up at the far side of the outer lane. Again, make sure you do not touch the curb or drive off the track!

Short Turns, 'S'

These turns are not really that difficult and with some practice, you will not even lose any speed while taking them:

1. Start at the far side of the outer lane.
2. Gently steer towards the middle of the track and point the front of the car towards the center of the turn.
3. Keep your car strait and try to drive as close as possible to the side of the tarmac. But watch out not to drive in the dirt or against the curb.
4. Keep going strait until you reach the center of the next turn, again staying as close as possible to the side of the tarmac.
5. Gently steer out of the turn and try to align you car strait in the middle or at the outer side of the track, depending on the next turn or the next obstacle.

Driving Down a Slope

Do not always jump off a slope, but try to remain in contact with the tarmac with your wheels all the way down. This way, you can accelerate while going down, if required. In order to achieve this, it is sometimes required to brake just before the slope.

1. The purple car does not brake before the slope and jumps off.
2. The car lands on the next ramp and loses a lot of speed.
3. Because the car lost most of it's speed, it cannot take off again so it bumps into the landing ramp.

1. The yellow car brakes before the slope.
2. It brakes just enough to keep in contact with the tarmac while driving down the slope.
3. The car can accelerate all the way down the slope so it can take off at high speed on the next ramp.
4. It safely makes the jump and continues driving...