Mario Kart 8: Some vehicles have the same stats?

I go through different karts, different wheels, different gliders, and some of them have the same stats as each other when looking at the little graph. Are some customizations only meant to be aesthetically different? Kinda lame if you ask me.

I haven't looked through all of it, but I would assume some things will have the same stats, so that people can have some choice. If all items had different stats, everyone's kart would look the same because everyone would choose the same parts.

I have seen variations, though, in different kart, wheel, and parachute combinations.

Yeah, a lot of them are only aesthetically different.

Honestly, I hope they do away with the stats altogether in the future. If they limit the stat differences to the weight of the character like they used to, it would work just as well. Choosing a vehicle body based on how it looks rather than how it drives is way more fun and better suited to a game like Mario Kart.

And it overcomplicates things for new players. If you want to just jump in and play the game with friends, you'll ALWAYS get stuck on the vehicle customization screen for waaay too long because no one wants to choose something that might suck. It doesn't add enough to the experience to justify the hassle.

Yes, 100 times yes

@JordanElek: Agreed 1000%. It's useless getting new carts. Just let us pick the most pleasing to us and do away with the stats.

Agreed. What's crazy about it is that even after doing all that, the stats don't even seem to matter (outside of handling) because when you're behind a player that has a vehicle with low speed stats you basically go the same speed even if you have a kart with high speed stats so basically you're just choosing what looks good to you.

The coins also need to give the appropriate speed boost like it did on SNES.

It seems like all of the bikes are just variations of the speed-bike.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think it is EXTREMELY clear when someone's car is faster than mine, either through 10 coins or just overall speed. I generally sacrifice acceleration to get a top speed, but at the start of the race, cars with faster acceleration reach their top speed much faster. Maybe I'm just looking into it too much lol. But after almost reaching 3500 online, you start noticing those things hahaha... Plus choosing a heavier cart allows me to pick a lighter character so I could have better handling. I think the stats are great.

I love thinking about this sort of thing too. I get into time trials and aim for world records. Thinking about kart builds is really important. Same with playing online. It can get really hectic online, so high acceleration is important. But in MK8, it's really important to get into first and push out your lead, which requires a high speed kart.

My friends who are casuals enjoy looking at the stats and choosing karts. If they aren't bothered by the stats, then they just go for whatever is aesthetically pleasing. For a casual, these differences functionally aren't too apparent when racing, so it doesn't really matter - they just enjoy racing.

Whatever. Personally, I think choosing parts is fun. I do not mind people spending a few extra seconds to choose their parts. And if I want to drive something I think looks cool but has lame stats, you can always change the stats to what you want thanks to the amount of parts you can choose.

The real question is even if they they're asymmetrical (diiferent), are they still balanced, or are there Karts that simply flatout suck or are better than all the others ?

Interestingly, there hasn't been one set of parts/Characters that's dominating the high scores or online (yet). I see a lot of variety, especially online, where people with tiny wheels and a buggy kart will take first place.

Usually the faster karts are great for Time Trials, but they can be unwieldy maneuvering between items online. Karts do share stats though, so the Gold Standard is no different than the Mach 8 or Circuit Special. But if you want to really feel the difference for yourself, try racing a few times with rollers and another few times with cyber slick wheels. There is definitely a difference.

@trugs26

Sounds good to me.... Its one of the few things I loved about DiRT 2... Different cars but they all specialize in something.