The game was developed specifically for the Electronic Sports World Cup and made free to allow players to train for the event.
This is the first game in the series to feature only one environment and be available for free.
Nearly 1 million players registered within weeks of the game's launch.
In March 2007, the game has set a record with 132 players on the same track. It was later broken by TrackMania Nations Forever (2008) with 250 players.
This is the last game in the series until TrackMania 2: Canyon to introduce a new environment, as well as the last to feature only one mood.