IIRC, the Steam and free versions (i.e. download and play) of the game never had StarForce
What's the use of copy-protection when there's no disc involved.
trackmania nations did infact have starforce even though it was free to play. i believe the justification given was that if the game was not protected, crackers would be able to reverse engineer the unprotected executable which would help them to crack the protected retail executable. in the past, this has been the logic for some starforce protected free demos as well.
personally i think it was a stupid move on their part but what can you do. the good news is tmn forever is free from starforce infestation.
holy crap i haven't had this much fun in a long time. super fun and addictive as hell. i can't finish half the maps i played online but i couldn't stop laughing.
give it a shot guys, you won't regret it.
my account id is 'sp1n', add me up if you want. i suck but it's still fun