> You probably won't pick a driver sitting on the edge of the frontier because you want some balance between speed and acceleration

for super mario kart speedruns go with bowser/dk: https://www.speedrun.com/smk/runs/zp68nr8m

That seemed to hold up for Mario Kart 8 too going with Bowser at the edge of their pareto frontier, https://www.speedrun.com/mk8

needing acceleration is a skill issue

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rtkwe 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's optimizing for different environments and opponents, the speed runs only have to deal with the AI not human players and take such crazy paths the AI isn't around to really mess with them so they don't have to worry about reaccelerating. In versus it's much less likely you'll be able to avoid all the other players so you need to be able to get back up to speed after being hit. A common strategy in the online vs mode is actually back running to collect better items then cashing them in rapidly to win.

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frantathefranta 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

On the other hand, if you are a casual and want to dominate 99% races you enter at people's homes, pick Toadette (with Mr. Scooty). I don't think I've lost since 2019.

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_superposition_ 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Lol skill issue... Right! But that's how you choose your weights. If you're not a great driver you need to give more consideration to acceleration.

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paytonjjones 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Speedruns are for playing the track solo, right?

If you're playing normally (with other people and items), even the most skilled player can't avoid getting hit by some universal items and will benefit from acceleration.

Hence, as the author notes, the balanced build with Peach being favored among competitive players.

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crtasm 3 hours ago | parent [-]

GP first link is to a speedrun in the all cups category, played with items and computer opponents. There's a video included.

People do speedrun the individual tracks solo in other categories.

	▲	bspammer 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		For a speedrun you don't care about 100 failed runs as long as you get the world record once. You're basically hoping to get lucky that the computer opponent won't hit you. Obviously you're going to pick the greediest (i.e highest speed) choice in that setting, that doesn't make it good in normal gameplay.
	▲	__s 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's a fair point that such an environment will be different than playing against other humans

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dmonitor 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Acceleration is pointless because of the hidden Mini Turbo stat

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ChrisGreenHeur 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Adding skill is just another dimension to the calculation.