One thing I have noted in the reviews goes something like:
"TrackMania does not require so much driving skills and is not a racing game but mainly a track building/puzzle game"
Ehhhh... hello!?!?
IMHO, TM is a *true* racing game and is *all about* driving skills. Learning to read the tracks and the environments and thus being faster gives so much pleasure, especially after a particularly well driven round. I'm constantly learning new techniques on how to be faster.
So, saying that TM is a puzzle game shows that you do not really like racing or you're just kinda missing the point of the game.