Mario Kart World character stats

This guide breaks down the base stats for Mario Kart World characters to help you choose the best racer for your playstyle. It’s a quick reference for comparing speed, acceleration, weight, handling, and class.

Mario Kart stats explained

• Speed: Your top speed on straightaways.
• Acceleration: How quickly you recover speed after slowing down or crashing.
• Weight: Impacts how easily you bump others and how much you’re affected by bumps.
• Handling: How tightly you can turn and how easily you steer through curves.
• Class: Determines overall size and stat potential; classes typically includes Feather, Light, Medium, and Heavy.

Our tier list includes full kart combos and will update with each meta shift, so it’s worth bookmarking.

Mario Kart World character stats rankings (base stats)

You can sort by Speed, Acceleration, Weight, Handling, and Class by clicking the labels at the top of the table below, which will show you the best and worst characters for each metric.

Note: This shows base stats only, including the standard kart—hidden modifiers and the best kart combos are not reflected.

Using the data, we have done a deep dive into what these base stats can tell us, which may be useful for picking a racer in the first few weeks of the game until the meta settles.

5 best starter characters to try

If you were going to decide on base stats alone, the following characters could be worth trying to start with. Over time, you will find the racer you like best.

• Baby Peach: A perfect beginner pick: she offers the highest acceleration and handling in the game, helping you recover quickly from mistakes and take tight corners with ease.
• Toadette: With strong acceleration and good handling, Toadette is forgiving for new players and light enough to avoid heavy hits while still holding her own on the track.
• Yoshi: A balanced option with mid-tier speed, decent acceleration, and manageable handling. Great if you’re looking to transition from beginner-friendly racers to more competitive builds.
• Luigi: A safe, all-round choice with moderate stats across the board. He’s ideal for players who want a smooth driving experience without any extremes.
• Nabbit: Slightly faster than baby characters but still maintains strong acceleration and handling. Great for players ready to push their limits while keeping some control.

Best & Worst characters in Mario Kart World (base stats)

If you just consider the base statistics of each character, these would be the takeaways from that data. These stats give you a starting point, and a feel, for which characters may be the best and worst of their class; however, don’t discount some that could improve with specific kart stats.

Speed

• Best: Bowser, Cheep Cheep (tied at 2.6)
• Worst: Baby Daisy, Baby Peach, Baby Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Rosalina, Dry Bones, Goomba (tied at 1.4)

Acceleration

• Best: Baby Daisy, Baby Peach, Para-Biddybud, and Swoop (tied at 3.0)
• Worst: Pianta (1.4)

Weight

• Heaviest: Bowser (2.4)
• Lightest: All Featherweight characters (tied at 1.0)

Handling

• Best: Pianta (3)
• Worst: Bowser (1.4)

We will continue to add more stats-based information on this page over time.