The best Mario Kart World karts: find the right kart for your driving style

By Jesse Lennox Published June 9, 2025

There was no better choice for a Switch 2 launch title than Mario Kart World. The last game was easily one of the best Switch games of all time, if not one of the best racing games ever made.

Mario Kart World has even more characters, more items, a vast open world to explore, but also new karts. Just like in Mario Kart 8, the kart you pick changes more than just the appearance.

Each one has a different stat distribution that alters the way it performs. You don’t have to worry about swapping out tires or gliders to get the best stats this time, just your kart and character. But there are a lot of karts this time around, and comparing all their stats is daunting. Instead, make a pit stop as we go over the best Mario Kart World karts after testing them over hundreds of races.

You will only have access to 11 karts when starting Mario Kart World, with the remaining 29 waiting to be unlocked. You unlock additional karts as you collect coins during races, with a total of 3,000 coins needed to unlock them all.

If you don’t have one of the karts below, keep doing races and grabbing as many coins as you can.

So far, the meta in Mario Kart World has settled on one kart standing above all the rest. The Baby Blooper kart is currently the king of the track thanks to its high acceleration and handling stats. If you are using one of the heavy characters, you will notice a huge edge over the competition.

If your issue is getting up to top speed as soon as possible, you will want to check out the Pipe Frame. It is on par with a couple of others for acceleration, but has better top speed and the handling needed to stay in control. Another option here would be the B Dasher, which has almost completely even stats across the board.

If you’re good enough, top speed matters much more than acceleration since that only comes into play if you lose your speed. While risky, Stellar Sled is the king of speed. You will need to have your handling on point here since that stat is particularly low, but this kart can set some records.

Handling is an overlooked aspect of your kart. Sure, you can compensate with skill to some degree, but playing a heavy character with a low mobility kart can feel like you’re turning against molasses. A kart like the Biddubuggy has exceptional handling without too many major tradeoffs that has carried us to many victories.