By Lillian Ali Published Jun 21, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT Polygon Lists You may be holding yourself back
The 14-million-selling Mario Kart World , part of a software lineup one analyst called 'poor.' Image: Nintendo Sign in to your Polygon.com account Mario Kart World ’s been out for over a year, and brought with it new game modes, unique character costumes, customization options and, of course, an enormous, interconnected map. If all this new content was a bit daunting to you, you may not have realized some of your racing habits might be holding you back from first place.
If you just got a Nintendo Switch 2, you’re new to Mario Kart, or you’re just looking to break some bad habits that are keeping you from first place, we put together some common mistakes Mario Kart World players might not realize they're making.
Image: Nintendo via Polygon Do yourself a favor — grab your Switch 2, boot up Mario Kart World , and disable smart steering . Unless you literally just started playing, it’s probably doing you more harm than good. Smart Steering keeps you from going off track during a race, so it’s great if you’re just starting out and trying to get used to the controls. But if you want to grind rails or take off-road shortcuts, Smart Steering will quickly start holding you back. It also prevents you from reaching the third level of drift boost in the game: the Ultra Mini Turbo.
Smart Steering is on by default, so casual players who aren’t trawling through their settings may never have noticed it. You can toggle it off in the settings menu.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon While flashy powerups and on-track Boost Pads may give you the biggest speed boosts in the game, there’s a ton of ways to secure smaller speed boosts that might add up to big wins. You probably know that using Z/ZR to drift around turns offers up to three levels of Mini-Boosts. Slipstreaming, or drafting, can also speed you up. All you have to do is line your kart right behind one of your opponents. You’ll see a little wind form around your kart, and feel a burst of speed. As a bonus, you can ram into the driver you’re slipstreaming behind to knock them off course.
Rail grinding can also help speed you up, but it can be a bit less intuitive for newcomers. Some rails start at ground level, so you can drive right up on them without any extra work. But if you’re past a rail’s ground-level start point, you can hop on by holding down the R/ZR button as though you’re going to drift, but instead of steering, continue driving straight ahead. Once you release the button, you’ll jump, giving you enough air to hop onto a rail. Hitting R/ZR again in the air lets you perform a quick trick that boosts your speed upon landing. Perform one of those tricks whenever you’re in the air — whether you took a ramp or a sand dune — to secure another speed boost.
Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon While seasoned racers are used to keeping their wallets full during laps, newcomers may not know how important coins can be in tight races. Like with previous entries in the Mario Kart franchise, collecting coins increases your maximum speed. For the highest possible boost — about 5% above your maximum speed — aim to keep 20 coins on you at all times. Every time you’re hit, you’ll lose a few coins. If you’re running low, keep an eye on some of the non-player cars driving alongside you, sometimes they’ll drop a few coins.