Summary
I’ve been playing Mario Kart games since I was a kid, but it wasn’t until I started dating my partner that I finally was taught how to drift properly inMario Kart 8 Deluxe. And he taught me not a moment too soon, either – some of the 96 courses in the gamerelyon you knowing how.
While some tracks give away how much you’ll need to drift, some tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe can take you by surprise with how much control you’ll need over your chosen build! Either way, hitting the purple boost is satisfying every time.
For posterity, sinceyour character choice and build really matterin Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, I play as Bowser using the City Tripper, Roller Wheels, and the Cloud Glider. Making sure you’re using a good build is critical to how well you’ll handle your character, drifting and otherwise!
Cup
Spiny Cup(Booster Wave 6)
The only thing harder than the very first ice luge drift on Rosalina’s Ice World is the song that plays on the course. The drifts on this track aren’t particularly tough themselves outside that massive first one, but the fact that the track is slick definitely doesn’t help.
The real challenge on this track comes when you’re playing online, since you’ll usually find that a lot of the racers finish in clusters. Too many cooks in this icy kitchen is definitely bound to send someone sailing off into space, especially in the final part with all the narrow paths and extra boosts.
Acorn Cup(Booster Wave 6)
I’ve ruled out a lot of the Mario Kart Tour tracks based on the fact that a lot of them are just roads through real places where you truly can go drive if you’re nearby and so choose, but there’s some merit to the drifting possibilities in Rome Avanti that I think warrant its inclusion anyway.
Have you ever considered driving through ancient sites? Because Rome Avanti’s big pull in terms of drifting in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the massive drift up and around the Coliseum on the very first lap. Assuming nobody bumps you or hits you with a tragically-timed item, it’s easy to get a purple boost off on that section of the track if you may drive it uninterrupted!
Lucky Cat Cup(Booster Wave 1)
You’re almost more hard-pressed to find too long a stretch on Shroom Ridge where you aren’t drifting than one where you are, since the entire mountainous course is practically made of twists and turns. Godspeed to the actual drivers on winding roads like that!
The first stretch of the track offers a chance to get an immediate purple drift boost, something you’ll achieve multiple times throughout this course. If you may make it through the enclosed tunnel section without hitting another car and breaking your drift, you can easily grab an extended purple boost as you coast across the coast.
Mushroom Cup
Even the icon for Mario Kart Stadium shows you what you’ll be up against once Lakitu counts you down and the race begins on this course, with the massive 180-degree drift you’ll face early along the track. Before you get there, though, you’ll navigate a drift with a few possible paths, one that lets you take the tight turn and cut through that way or another that offers plenty of orange boosts along the way.
The final stretch of this relatively short Mario Kart 8 track is your last chance to show what you’re made of when it comes to drifting, offering the chance to grab a few boostsand a jump if you need, or an inside track that requires some tight precision. Accuracy versus boosts is the name of the game in Mario Kart Stadium.
Rock Cup(Booster Wave 3)
It took me a while to get good at Maple Treeway in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and I still struggle sometimes. As soon as you’re out of the starting gate, there’s a series of tight drifts that make it entirely plausible you’re sailing off the track before you even get going to full speed.
Then, you come to the sharp embankment onto the treetop with the Wigglers prancing about, and if you don’t drift sooner than you think you need to, you’re off the track before you know it. There’s also the hairpin final drift into the jump toward the trees leading to the finish line, where many a contender for first has lost their dreams of victory.
Special Cup
I could probably have putmost of the various (and plentiful) Rainbow Road iterationson this list, truly, since they’re allpretty tough to perfect,but for posterity, I limited my choice to the most offensive of them all in terms of drifts. The version of Rainbow Road baked into Mario Kart 8’s base game isn’t for the faint of heart.
The course chucks you into wide drifts practically right from the start, and that’s before you shoot out of the space station and onto one of two twisting, turning paths back toward the start. If you’re a skilled player, you may sometimes time a poor drift from one track to land you on the other, all of it leading to one final, wide turn with potentials for boosts before you cross the finish line.
There might be more of this course thatisreliant on drift than parts of DK Jungle thataren’t. As soon as you begin the race on DK Jungle, you’re shot from a cannon to land at the top of the mountain, and you’ll need to carefully slalom your way back to the starting line to do it a few times over again.
But once you land after being shot from the cannon, it’s pretty much all drift, all the way down. There are ramps along the curved sides that offer bonus items, but the real trick is keeping your drifts as tight as possible and staying to the inside of the track. Other drivers are like moving obstacles, too, bumping you here, there, and everywhere as you try to stay on course.
Turnip Cup(Booster Wave 2)
One of my personal favorite courses in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is Waluigi Pinball, but you’ll need to be good at drifting if you hope to stand a chance of placing well on this track. As soon as you land once you’re shot from the colorful launch tunnel, you’ll begin drifting, and you barely stop until you’re at the bottom of the pinball machine.
There are enough challenges in Waluigi Pinball before you even factor in the actual pinballs themselves being obstacles, too. You’ll need to contend with other racers and giant rolling steel spheres trying to crush you if you have any hope of making it into the big final drift at the end of the track!
Egg Cup
Dragon Driftway practicallyhadto appear someplace in the list of good courses for drifting in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – it’s right in the name. From the moment you drive into the dragon’s mouth until you cross the finish line after lap three, your finger practically never leaves the bumper.
The body of the beast is a dizzy, swirling course, with blue arrows blinking to indicate turns woven between the hanging red lanterns along the track. Pick up some speed on the bumps going down its back and drift your way to victory in the final stretch of Dragon Driftway (just watch out for that grassy pitch at the end – it can be a victory-crusher if you’re neck and neck with someone else).
Banana Cup
Royal Raceway is a fitting name, since it’s the birthplace of many drift kings and queens in Mario Kart. Though the course doesn’t seem that imposing from the outset, plenty of the most critical stretches of the track rely on your ability to bounce between which way you’re drifting in rapid succession, lest you end up careening off into the water.
There’s also the large first stretch of the course which, if timed correctly, can result in a massive purple boost right from the outset to set you up for success early on. Any seasoned Mario Kart player will tell you they’ve been tested or have tested someone else’s drifting abilities on this unassuming course.
