A as soon as celebrated Trackmania star was uncovered as a cheater. Underneath a brand new identification, he created a community of pretend accounts – and deceived the neighborhood once more for years.
Think about somebody investing years of their life, 1000’s of hours of arduous work, perfecting each transfer, each determination, each technique – to not turn into an actual skilled participant, however to deceive the entire world. They create a number of faux identities, program their very own cheats, construct a community of pretend accounts, and battle tooth and nail to steal digital glory.
That is precisely what occurred within the Trackmania neighborhood.
A German participant, as soon as celebrated as one of many best skills, manipulated your complete aggressive scene of the sport – and never simply as soon as. After he was uncovered as a cheater, he disappeared. However as the favored Trackmania YouTuber Wirtual now reveals, there may be proof that the cheater has secretly returned, underneath a brand new identification, with a brand new plan. And this time, his dishonest could possibly be much more insidious than earlier than.
Flashback: the primary scandal
Just a few years in the past, the German Trackmania participant Riolu was a celebrated star within the scene. A German participant who seemingly managed the inconceivable: he broke one world report after one other, dominated a number of Trackmania variations on the identical time and made even the most effective drivers on the earth look previous.
62 of 65 world information in Trackmania 2: Canyon? No downside for Riolu. Full domination in Trackmania Turbo with 200 of 200 official information? Additionally ticked off. His followers adored him, his opponents despaired – he was properly on his option to changing into one of many best Trackmania gamers of all time. In the long run, Riolu held a whopping 2,800 world information on the identical time.
However in 2021, every thing got here to gentle: An in-depth evaluation of the replay recordsdata delivered to gentle what many had beforehand discovered arduous to think about: the prodigy Riolu had cheated. And he did so utilizing a classy technique wherein he diminished the velocity of his recreation by 40 to 60 %.
This was not initially recognizable within the replay recordsdata – till a brand new device was developed that would visualize the gamers’ steering actions. Instantly it was clear: his inputs have been inhumanly exact, typically even inconceivable to execute.
When the proof was offered, Riolu initially denied every thing. He spoke of a witch hunt, accused his critics of blackmail, and tried to minimize the scandal. However the info have been overwhelming. The previous celebrity was uncovered as a cheater, his information have been erased, his popularity was ruined. Ultimately, he withdrew from public view – seemingly for good. However because it seems, he had very totally different plans in actuality.
Returning underneath a false identification
For years, nothing was heard from Riolu. Whereas the Trackmania neighborhood tried to revive the damaged rankings with sincere information, the previous star appeared to have disappeared from the scene. However in 2024, a brand new title emerged that shortly triggered a stir: Eddy Reising
Eddy appeared to return out of nowhere – and at a powerful velocity. Inside just a few days, he had positioned himself among the many finest gamers in Trackmania 2: Lagoon, cracked the highest 10 of the worldwide leaderboards a number of instances and even set just a few world information.
Scepticism unfold all through the neighborhood. Who was this mysterious newcomer who was capable of sustain with the most effective Trackmania gamers on the earth proper from the beginning? Positive, there are pure skills – however taking part in a Trackmania title for the primary time and instantly setting world-class instances? Greater than suspicious.
However Eddy needed to dispel any doubts: He joined a number of Discord servers of the Trackmania neighborhood, chatted with different gamers and informed them about himself. In accordance with his personal assertion, he lived in Kazakhstan, had been taking part in Trackmania for a very long time, however not competitively – till now.
Nevertheless, issues received unusual when it got here to his previous. He offered little particular info, his solutions have been obscure, and above all, he prevented talking within the voice chat. His microphone was at all times muted in order to not disturb his spouse, he claimed.
The skeptics didn’t let up. The longer Eddy was energetic, the extra inconsistencies emerged – and slowly an unbelievable idea took form: Was Eddy actually Riolu?
The proof: Is Eddy actually Riolu?
What initially seemed like a conspiracy idea shortly turned out to be a frighteningly well-founded suspicion. Little by little, neighborhood members gathered proof suggesting that Eddy Reising may in reality be nothing greater than a brand new identification for Riolu. And the deeper they dug, the clearer the sample turned.
1. The account connections
An important clue was the Trackmania accounts that Eddy used. His account title (to not be confused with the show title) was referred to as pwnz0r_22 – a reputation that was not notably conspicuous in the neighborhood, however which turned explosive on nearer inspection. It’s because pwnz0r_22 had been linked to a smurf account belonging to Riolu previously.
Moreover, it turned out that shortly after his look, Eddy used some accounts that matched people who turned energetic shortly after Riolu’s disappearance in 2021 – together with the mysterious 92Bob account, which immediately started breaking world information after Riolu’s publicity.
Wirtual has lined the complete story of 92Bob in a separate video:
2. The {hardware} information
Amongst different issues, Trackmania shops the enter system utilized in replay recordsdata – a type of digital fingerprint. Eddy performed with a gamepad from Bigben Interactive, a producer that isn’t precisely widespread within the Trackmania scene.
Now that wouldn’t be conclusive proof – however right here’s the place it will get tough:
The corporate had since modified its title, however Eddy’s saved replay recordsdata nonetheless confirmed the previous producer ID – the identical one which appeared in Riolu’s replays again then.
Riolu had used precisely this controller previously.
In previous social media posts, Riolu had proudly introduced that his esports group had a sponsorship cope with Bigben and that the system was offered to him.
3. The way in which he performs the sport & exercise
One other piece of proof that was arduous to disclaim: Eddy’s driving model was an nearly good match for Riolu’s. His line selection, his approach – all of it strikingly paying homage to the previous Trackmania professional. Gamers who carefully comply with the most effective drivers on the scene have been shortly positive: this couldn’t be a coincidence.
However it received even crazier: repeatedly, conditions arose wherein Eddy activated in a suspiciously exact manner when sure Riolu accounts have been inactive – and vice versa.At any time when Eddy was taking part in, Riolu was offline and vice versa. The neighborhood began analyzing timestamps and located that the exercise patterns match collectively like a puzzle over years.
4. The Poisonous Protection
As additional proof of Eddy’s true identification, Wirtual cites his habits in direction of criticism. In boards and on Discord, he aggressively defended himself in opposition to anybody who even hinted that he may need one thing to do with Riolu. Apparently, new accounts additionally repeatedly appeared that defended Eddie in discussions – and in doing so used precisely the identical wording that Riolu as soon as used when he defended himself in opposition to the fraud allegations.
Even stranger: A number of of those accounts had already left feedback on Riolu’s previous movies underneath a special title previously. Some had even explicitly agitated in opposition to Riolu’s critics – simply as Eddie was doing now.
All this proof led to an unavoidable conclusion: Eddy Reising and Riolu are more than likely one and the identical particular person.
Eddy began out as a Trackmania sensation, however turned out to be one of the crucial perfidious deceptions within the scene. For years, Riolu apparently continued to play in secret, creating new identities and as soon as once more making it to the highest of the rankings – whereas the neighborhood was underneath the impression that that they had lastly cleaned their leaderboards of cheaters.
