A as soon as celebrated Trackmania star was uncovered as a cheater. Underneath a brand new id, he created a community of faux 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 resolution, each technique – to not grow to be 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 faux accounts, and struggle 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 biggest abilities, manipulated the whole 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’s proof that the cheater has secretly returned, below a brand new id, with a brand new plan. And this time, his dishonest might 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 unattainable: he broke one world document after one other, dominated a number of Trackmania variations on the similar time and made even the very best drivers on the planet look outdated.
62 of 65 world information in Trackmania 2: Canyon? No drawback 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 nicely on his option to changing into one of many biggest Trackmania gamers of all time. Ultimately, Riolu held a whopping 2,800 world information on the similar time.
However in 2021, every part got here to gentle: An in-depth evaluation of the replay information dropped at gentle what many had beforehand discovered arduous to think about: the prodigy Riolu had cheated. And he did so utilizing a complicated technique through which he diminished the pace of his sport by 40 to 60 %.
This was not initially recognizable within the replay information – till a brand new device was developed that would visualize the gamers’ steering actions. Abruptly it was clear: his inputs have been inhumanly exact, generally even unattainable to execute.
When the proof was offered, Riolu initially denied every part. He spoke of a witch hunt, accused his critics of blackmail, and tried to minimize the scandal. However the details have been overwhelming. The previous celebrity was uncovered as a cheater, his information have been erased, his repute was ruined. Finally, he withdrew from public view – seemingly for good. However because it seems, he had very totally different plans in actuality.
Returning below a false id
For years, nothing was heard from Riolu. Whereas the Trackmania neighborhood tried to revive the damaged rankings with trustworthy information, the previous star appeared to have disappeared from the scene. However in 2024, a brand new identify emerged that shortly precipitated a stir: Eddy Reising
Eddy appeared to come back out of nowhere – and at a powerful pace. Inside a number of 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 occasions and even set a number of world information.
Scepticism unfold all through the neighborhood. Who was this mysterious newcomer who was capable of sustain with the very best Trackmania gamers on the planet proper from the beginning? Certain, there are pure abilities – however taking part in a Trackmania title for the primary time and instantly setting world-class occasions? Greater than suspicious.
However Eddy wished 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 keeping with his personal assertion, he lived in Kazakhstan, had been taking part in Trackmania for a very long time, however not competitively – till now.
Nonetheless, issues obtained unusual when it got here to his previous. He supplied little particular data, his solutions have been imprecise, and above all, he averted 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 unimaginable principle took form: Was Eddy actually Riolu?
The proof: Is Eddy actually Riolu?
What initially appeared like a conspiracy principle shortly turned out to be a frighteningly well-founded suspicion. Little by little, neighborhood members gathered proof suggesting that Eddy Reising may actually be nothing greater than a brand new id for Riolu. And the deeper they dug, the clearer the sample grew to become.
1. The account connections
A vital clue was the Trackmania accounts that Eddy used. His account identify (to not be confused with the show identify) was referred to as pwnz0r_22 – a reputation that was not significantly conspicuous in the neighborhood, however which grew to become explosive on nearer inspection. It is because pwnz0r_22 had been linked to a smurf account belonging to Riolu up to now.
Moreover, it turned out that shortly after his look, Eddy used some accounts that matched people who grew to become 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 coated the complete story of 92Bob in a separate video:
2. The {hardware} information
Amongst different issues, Trackmania shops the enter machine utilized in replay information – a sort 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 identify, however Eddy’s saved replay information nonetheless confirmed the outdated producer ID – the identical one which appeared in Riolu’s replays again then.
Riolu had used precisely this controller up to now.
In outdated social media posts, Riolu had proudly introduced that his esports workforce had a sponsorship cope with Bigben and that the machine was supplied to him.
3. The best way he performs the sport & exercise
One other piece of proof that was arduous to disclaim: Eddy’s driving type was an virtually good match for Riolu’s. His line selection, his approach – all of it strikingly paying homage to the previous Trackmania professional. Gamers who intently observe the very best drivers on the scene have been shortly positive: this couldn’t be a coincidence.
Nevertheless it obtained even crazier: repeatedly, conditions arose through which Eddy activated in a suspiciously exact means 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 id, Wirtual cites his habits in the direction of criticism. In boards and on Discord, he aggressively defended himself towards anybody who even hinted that he might need one thing to do with Riolu. Curiously, 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 towards the fraud allegations.
Even stranger: A number of of those accounts had already left feedback on Riolu’s outdated movies below a unique identify up to now. Some had even explicitly agitated towards Riolu’s critics – simply as Eddie was doing now.
All this proof led to an unavoidable conclusion: Eddy Reising and Riolu are almost certainly one and the identical particular person.
Eddy began out as a Trackmania sensation, however turned out to be probably the most 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 below the impression that they’d lastly cleaned their leaderboards of cheaters.
