Mario Kart World is getting yet another free content update today, this time adding our first batch of new tracks.
Specifically, courses from Super Mario Kart are being added to the VS Race mode. We see SNES Choco Island 1 and Choco Island 2 now available as options under the standard Choco Mountain track, for example. Vanilla Lake and Ghost Valley are also coming, amongst others, for a total of 10.
Another neat Super Mario Kart nod comes in the form of the ? Panels on the road, which you can drive over to get items.
In addition, two extra Knockout Tour routes are being added, named Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally. There's clearly still more to come, as footage from today's Nintendo Direct still shows four further routes hidden behind question marks, so the devs aren't done supporting the mode.
Although it wasn't mentioned in the Direct itself, Nintendo also states via a press release that a new Spectator Mode has been added for when you're playing with friends online or through LAN play, and now that I'm saying that out loud, I can't believe it wasn't an option from the start. Better late than never, though.
Honestly, though, it's the new tracks that make 1.8.0 Mario Kart World's best update yet. It was always going to be hard for the Switch 2 racer to compete with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which simply has so many more courses to race around, especially with all its DLC, and this thankfully gives World a bit of a boost in the right direction. Hopefully we can expect more in the future.
Be sure to keep up with our Nintendo Direct September 2026 live blog to see everything announced during the show.
