The first time anyone jumps into Mario Kart 8’s 200cc mode can be a shock. The engine class is meant to be the hardest challenge in the game, but even so, racing in 200cc can sometimes feel egregiously punishing. There’s a reason for that: Apparently, the number does not accurately represent the jump in speed that Mario Kart 8 really throws at you.
As highlighted by the ever-great Supper Mario Broth, players have crunched the numbers behind all the engine classes only to find that 200cc is a misnomer. If 200cc feels way faster than, say, 150cc, you aren’t imagining it. 200cc is apparently 38% faster than it should be, at least compared to the speed ratio established by slower modes. Here are a couple of graphs breaking it all down. The kicker? What’s called 200cc is really 415cc, relatively speaking.
What makes this so funny, though, is that players have intuited that something was off since the release of the original Mario Kart 8 for Wii U, in 2014. For a decade now, the internet has been full of discussions where fans call 200cc “ridiculous” and “too fast,” only to be met with responses telling them to get good at the game. Some people might commiserate, but it’s also typical to see dismissive replies that tell complainers “you need to get used to it.”
Left with no other choice but to endure it, players will also typically share strategies for surviving 200cc. The most common suggestion? Learn to love braking, maybe even learn how to “brake drift,” which refers to the practice of slowing down slightly before boosting yourself. This way, players can manage corners more easily than they might at full speed. Fans also encourage one another to pick up lighter characters, which handle with more ease.
So far, it’s unclear if follow-up Mario Kart World will include 200cc, or whether or not the mode will accurately represent the speed that the game is supposed to run at. For now, players are mostly celebrating that the woes of Mario Kart 8’s 200cc wasn’t just in their heads.
“This is very vindicating,” reads the top reply to Supper Mario Broth’s X post. “Aaaaaah I knew it!!!” another exclaims.