You can say the game is *puts glasses on* , on track !

lol

Well, It was a smart move To back-Track your gaming experiences. I did.. and i fell right back in love with this frustrating game =D

There's still a decent amount of players at least for Canyon. Very rare to not find a populated server. My wife and I are still enjoying playing and making the occasional track ;)

Comparing tracks from ten years ago with the ones the community is coming up with the days is amazing. Custom blocks and track types for the win. It's a modders paradise really

In my brutally honest opinion: Canyon is a desert not just in its environment but also in the amount of other people you'd expect to be there. TM: United Forever has a few more players online than Canyon but it's close and pretty much all of them are playing the Stadium environment. I talk about it in my video, where you'll see exactly how many players there are in Canyon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inkFtVMYnXI&list=PLhSDeml4nCcfEIJnphA3KzTJpme19cLSj

What I'm not entirely sure about is how populated TM² Stadium is right now because I've read conflicting information, but I've looked at Dedimania server stats and it looked like there's slightly more players playing the stadium environment in TM:UF than there are playing TM² Stadium. TM² Stadium - which I have not played, is just stadium again anyway, literally 99% the same as that environment was in TM:UF and TM:Nations and I can't in good conscience recommend buying what feels to me like a money grabbing re-release with a bit better lighting and some minor tweaks. I still prefer TM:UF over any other TM title. It has the most tracks by far, a ton of built-in ones per environment, all of the best environments combined (minus Canyon) in one game, and the largest track selection on TM-Exchange. It's way more content for your money, and these days if you're going to play ANY trackmania game you have to bring friends or play very short, simple tracks 'cause that's pretty much all that people play online. And even in TM:UF you'll have to play Stadium like everybody else.

So to answer your question directly:
"Are there still a lot of ppl playing? Is there a point to try one of the older ones or should i just wait for the new ones?"

You should wait for a new one if the number of people playing is a primary concern. If you just want content for solo play or have friends to play it with, TM:UF all day long.

thx roenie for the detailed explanation. me and my bro designed maps back in the day and played those with others and ourselves. but i think i'll just wait for the new one and see how that goes. im sort of surprised that it doesnt seem to be that popular anymore because i remember TM to be kinda huge back in the day.

Everything comes to an end eventually.

You are not alone, I was a track builder too.
Came back to create one more track last year, for United Forever:
https://united.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=trackshow&id=5224155#auto

Here's the ones I made in 2004, for the original Trackmania:
http://original.tm-exchange.com/main.aspx?action=tracksearch&mode=1&id=1180

If you want suggestions for other games to play, send me a friend request and look at the infobox on my profile. I also have a bunch of reviews up just like you do, but my profile is restricted to "friends only". In terms of arcade racers that are more recent I would recommend both GRIP and Distance. You'll find videos from both if you use the search on my youtube channel.

Distance is very challenging and technical to control the car which can ride, but also fly by wings (slower) or as a projectile being steered by thrusters (harder to do but faster). When you learn it and start to nail it, it's rewarding. Has a track editor but it takes quite considerable learning to use it. Spiritual successor to Nitronic Rush. NR was released in 2011.

GRIP is your spiritual successor to Rollcage (1999) and I have a video up from Rollcage Stage II (2000). That is to say, the car has big wheels and can drive upside down and/or on the ceiling and keep going in the same direction. And there's weapons if you choose the battle race mode or w/e it's called. No track editor though.

I can't really imagine Nadeo making another TM game that's with the times.
You'd have to pull something special out of the hat to get a new TM to sell these days.
Edit: Maybe one day someone will make a spiritual successor to TM. :)

Not seeing dethkarz in there, first type of this genre I've played anyhow. Highly recommended if your are into high speed battle racing

It looks like DethKarz is from 1998. Is there a remake I don't know about?

Hmm? No, no remake. I wish. But no. It's abandonware now, free to download.

Servers allways full ~ 50/60 players
You can use any custom skin
Game is really great.

I loved playing "laybyrinthic & puzzling special maps" when it was free (between 2014 and 2018). Changing the model, again & again, was absurd.