Free Roam

The open world is what makes this game unlike any other Mario Kart title. It changes everything! I've hardly seen the whole world and discover new parts often and I am hours and hours into the game. It will be a journey to discover everything and I don't think there is a physical guide book of any sort. I bet there are online maps but I want to discover everything myself first unless it gets frustrating. I keep unlocking so many stickers for drive distance, tricks preformed, coins collected and flying distance! With all the ? Panels (which are a great throw back to Super Mario Kart), P Switches and Peach Medallions I'll be exploring for months without putting serious hours in daily. (2025-06-16 at around 35 hours played)

Today I was doing some time trials, like I would in Mario Kart once I feel "done" with the Grand Prix and Battle or break from online. But this game has FREE ROAM! Which, ofc I explore in between matches and have found myself jumping into from the start menu when I see a P Switch.

Anyway, I saw the Star Lake and wanted to explore, so I left time trials and went into free roam.

I wonder if it would be possible to further integrate time trial into the open world? Create a location you can drive to and start a time trial? I figure that's already been done in level selection over-worlds in other games but it's not a feature in this one. It would have been nice to be able to quick travel to something near what I want to explore between even time trials and battles. The free roam waiting room is kinda that but detached from time trials and (I think) at least in wireless mode I've been relocated due to distance between players (so much for a cross world race if you have folks falling behind)

I should play in an online group or host my own.

TODO: Share a TON of screen shots and talk about favorite locations

TODO: Maybe a map?