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They have been racing for a monthGetting over dip
Getting over dip
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Ubisoft
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Ubisoft
At the time of writing, the remaining competitors are warring it out at a particular spot on floor 16, tantalisingly close to the finish line. To proceed, they have to perform a nigh-impossible trick that involvescrawling along a vertical surface on two wheels. It is disgusting. The three players currently in the running are “Larstm”, “Hazardu”, and “BrenTM” - whosepersonal bestsnow all stand within a couple of metres of each other.
One racer who has bowed out of the contest is Øyvind “Wirtual” Iversen, a prominentTrackmaniaspeedster who got as far as floor 14, a hefty achievement in itself.
“It sorta gets to the point where the way we’re playing the map now, we just have to drive for half an hour,” says Iversen ina videowhere he explains the reasons he is throwing in the towel. “Half an hour of perfect driving without falling just to explore the hardest floor. And it feels very unrewarding in that sense.
“The map I think is too difficult. The difficult floors should be earlier in the map because this way of exploring is so taxing… This is the type of map that you need the determination and iron will of, like, a god. Seriously.”
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / Ubisoft
He also admits that, as a YouTuber, he can’t do the same thing over and over again and expect viewers to keep tuning in. That, and normal life must go on. “If I keep playing Deep Dip now,” he says, “it’ll be destructive to the rest of my life.”
But Iversen also encourages people to support the remaining drivers.
“I am so incredibly impressed with their progress,” said Iversen, “and you only get such a huge respect for this the more you play the map… It’s completely bewildering to me.”
Iversen oncebeat Trackmania blindfolded. When someone like that nopes out of a challenge, you know it’s a tortuously difficult task. Yet the end is in sight and, barring some Sisyphean nightmare trap metres before the finish line, one of the remaining contestants is sure to take the prize money any day.
