A as soon as celebrated Trackmania star was uncovered as a cheater. Beneath a brand new id, he created a community of faux accounts – and deceived the group once more for years.
Think about somebody investing years of their life, 1000’s of hours of laborious work, perfecting each transfer, each resolution, each technique – to not turn out 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 group.
A German participant, as soon as celebrated as one of many best skills, manipulated your entire 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 unimaginable: he broke one world report after one other, dominated a number of Trackmania variations on the similar time and made even the perfect drivers on this planet look outdated.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 effectively on his method 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 similar time.
However in 2021, every part got here to gentle: An in-depth evaluation of the replay recordsdata delivered to gentle what many had beforehand discovered laborious to think about: the prodigy Riolu had cheated. And he did so utilizing a complicated methodology wherein he decreased the velocity of his recreation by 40 to 60 p.c.
This was not initially recognizable within the replay recordsdata – till a brand new device was developed that would visualize the gamers’ steering actions. All of a sudden it was clear: his inputs have been inhumanly exact, typically even unimaginable to execute.
When the proof was introduced, Riolu initially denied every part. He spoke of a witch hunt, accused his critics of blackmail, and tried to minimize the scandal. However the information 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 below a false id
For years, nothing was heard from Riolu. Whereas the Trackmania group 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 brought about 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 occasions and even set just a few world information.
Scepticism unfold all through the group. Who was this mysterious newcomer who was in a position to sustain with the perfect Trackmania gamers on this planet proper from the beginning? Positive, there are pure skills – however enjoying a Trackmania title for the primary time and instantly setting world-class occasions? Greater than suspicious.
However Eddy needed to dispel any doubts: He joined a number of Discord servers of the Trackmania group, chatted with different gamers and advised them about himself. In line with his personal assertion, he lived in Kazakhstan, had been enjoying Trackmania for a very long time, however not competitively – till now.
Nevertheless, issues bought unusual when it got here to his previous. He supplied little particular info, his solutions have been imprecise, and above all, he averted talking within the voice chat. His microphone was all the time muted in order to not disturb his spouse, he claimed.
The skeptics didn’t let up. The longer Eddy was lively, the extra inconsistencies emerged – and slowly an unbelievable concept took form: Was Eddy actually Riolu?
The proof: Is Eddy actually Riolu?
What initially gave the impression of a conspiracy concept shortly turned out to be a frighteningly well-founded suspicion. Little by little, group members gathered proof suggesting that Eddy Reising would possibly 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 often called pwnz0r_22 – a reputation that was not significantly conspicuous locally, however which grew to become explosive on nearer inspection. It’s because pwnz0r_22 had been linked to a smurf account belonging to Riolu prior to now.
Moreover, it turned out that shortly after his look, Eddy used some accounts that matched people who grew to become lively shortly after Riolu’s disappearance in 2021 – together with the mysterious 92Bob account, which all of a sudden started breaking world information after Riolu’s publicity.
Wirtual has coated the complete story of 92Bob in a separate video:
2. The {hardware} knowledge
Amongst different issues, Trackmania shops the enter system utilized in replay recordsdata – a form of digital fingerprint. Eddy performed with a gamepad from Bigben Interactive, a producer that’s not 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 recordsdata nonetheless confirmed the outdated producer ID – the identical one which appeared in Riolu’s replays again then.
Riolu had used precisely this controller prior to now.
In outdated social media posts, Riolu had proudly introduced that his esports workforce had a sponsorship take care of Bigben and that the system was supplied to him.
3. The best way he performs the sport & exercise
One other piece of proof that was laborious to disclaim: Eddy’s driving model was an nearly excellent match for Riolu’s. His line selection, his method – all of it strikingly harking back to the previous Trackmania professional. Gamers who intently comply with the perfect drivers on the scene have been shortly certain: this couldn’t be a coincidence.
However it bought even crazier: again and again, conditions arose wherein Eddy activated in a suspiciously exact method when sure Riolu accounts have been inactive – and vice versa.Each time Eddy was enjoying, Riolu was offline and vice versa. The group 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 conduct in the 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. 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 in opposition to the fraud allegations.
Even stranger: A number of of those accounts had already left feedback on Riolu’s outdated movies below a distinct identify prior to now. 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 almost certainly one and the identical individual.
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 group was below the impression that that they had lastly cleaned their leaderboards of cheaters.
