The interface, whilst never overly complicated, has been redone to great success. There is now a handy odometer that shows how many metres you have covered, which is useful to explain to others where the really tricky jumps are that you always miss. Overall the design is slicker, cars are more detailed and everything has been polished up to produce a great end result.
If I were pedantic, I'd grumble about the track tips being on by default, and having other racers flags over the top of their cars which clutters things up a bit, but you soon forget about all that when you see the brilliant line-up of winners at the end of the race. Besides which, you can turn off any visual cues that are irritating.
A couple of important additions in Forever concern the checkpoints. In the old game, the checkpoint was built in as a track tile, that is, you could only go through it (or over it, if you really messed up). In Forever, you can now go around it, as they can be placed on solid tiles without the need for a track. Something to remember when power-drifting around corners, particularly on grass stages.
Also, you can now hit a reset button that allows you to spawn at the last checkpoint you went through. This is great if you're stuck on a track you just can't finish, but other than that, you probably won't use it very often as it's just too much of a time penalty.
Servers all around the world have been popping up since the release of Forever, and to keep track of them you can now add them to your favourites while you're actually in the game. Another useful inclusion is support for 3D glasses, although I'm not quite sure how that would assist your gameplay, but it's nice to have the option.
TrackMania Nations was always a game that could simultaneously make you laugh, and cry. Sometimes it also made you want to put an axe through your PC. There was always one track that you just couldn't finish, or one jump that you always messed up every single time. Fans can rest assured the spirit of Nations has not only been retained, but enhanced with TrackMania Nations Forever - it's going to thrill gamers for a long time to come.
---
TrackMania Nations, the original ESWC game, can be downloaded here (266MB).
TrackMania Nations Forever can be downloaded here (503MB).
