Race your way into the finish line with your favourite plumber for Nintendo in Mario Kart Tour

Mario Kart Tour is a kart racing game where you can choose characters like Mario, Donkey Kong and many more to sprint to the finish line. There are many maps that challenge your navigation skills. Some races have rolling snowballs or other obstacles that you have to dodge on top of other racers throwing things at you. With each race, you choose a character, a vehicle and paraglider before starting the course. The karts come in 4 different engine class: 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and 200cc, the fastest kart is the 200cc kart. 

You can set your control method in the settings page. If you are a confident mobile phone car driver, switch manual drift on. You can turn other features like smart steering and gyro handling off or on, depending on how good you are at navigating. When the auto item option is on, the game uses the item straight away after you pick up a box. Hence, it is a good idea to switch it off so you can use the shell or banana when you need it. Gyro handling steers your kart when you tilt the phone left or right. This can be tricky even for experienced drivers, but if you are keen to try your skill, you can give it a go. 

To steer, swipe from left to right as your racer moves forward on its own. The smart steering keeps you on the main track; it will stop you from driving into hidden roads and short cuts. For drifters, switching this option on will give you an ultra mini- turbo boost with every successful drift. The racer will drift automatically when at a bend, and it is up to you to keep the drift going. You need to last long enough to trigger a mini turbo that happens immediately after the drift ends.

Once you collect an item from the box with the question mark, the item appears on the top circle. Things like coins, Bullet Bill and mushrooms cannot be thrown. Instead, you can use coins to purchase things from the store after the race. Bullet Bill turns you into a bullet that can go fast and crash into any opponents, and you will not get damaged. A normal mushroom makes you go faster, while a Mega Mushroom will make your kart go bigger so you can hit the other racers. The effects last for a short while, so use them when you get it. 

Things in the box that you can throw at opponents are shells, bananas and bob-ombs. Once you throw the items, shells crashes into karts and slow them down. You can throw the shells to the front or back by flicking it in the direction you want. Bananas will make another kart slip, so drop on down if you see another kart gaining up on you. 

There are 2 currencies in Mario Kart Tour, the coins that you earn in a race, and rubies that you have to buy with real-life currency. You can buy items from the Daily Selects section of the shop. Rubies give you more purchase options, you can buy launch pipes for special items or play in the Coin Rush. Participate in the events to save up on event tokens, and exchange them for rubies. 

When you are waiting for the race to start, hold your finger on the screen after the starting timer reaches 2 for a rocket start advantage. You notice that your kart's wheels have sparks, then it will go faster. Then, once you hit a curve, start drifting to gain the ultra-mini turbo boosts to speed past your opponents. The longer you keep a drift, the longer the turbo boost will last. The colour of the sparks will go from blue, gold and purple, so you know how long each boost would last. 

If you are an experienced driver, take advantage of the slipstream to overtake other racers. It might sound simple to follow the kart in front of you for a time before dashing ahead, it can be tricky because your opponent might drop a shell or banana and you will spin out of control and lose the advantage. 

No race course will be complete without dash plates. The blue dash plate will give you a glide boost, allowing you to glide your way ahead without worrying about crashing. The yellow dash plate will make you go faster for a few seconds, so you can zoom past people. To win the game, you have to come 1st place in 2-lap races. Certain maps have obstacles, and you have to drive fast and avoid them. Some challenges will require you to take out items or animals, which you can do using throw- able items like shells. Challenges earn badges and rewards; so it is worth taking your time to complete them. Some events also reward you with tokens, which you can exchange for high-end items in the Token Shop. 

Every special move earns you a chance to create a combo bonus. There are challenges that require you to have one special move after another. Certain race courses are easier to create combos: more item boxes, dash plates and curves. First, zoom ahead with a rocket start, and do not forget to drift. Using items will also count towards your combo. You can use it to your advantage to keep your combo going. Look for ramps when you are gliding, or try to land on another dash plate. 

Winning races and events will earn Point- Boost tickets for you to upgrade your karts. There are different tickets to improve different sections of your kart. You can gain more points per race by upgrading your kart and glider with tickets. A Level- Boost Ticket will level up a driver, kart or glider to win races easily. 

To play Mario Kart Tour, your aim is to get first place in races, follow instructions to complete challenges, and keep upgrading. Each race takes around 2 minutes, but anything can happen on 2 laps. Be on the lookout for things flying towards you and dodge them if you can. You are welcome to share your favourite race track, kart or character in the game in the comment area below.