Mario Kart Tour Guide: Advanced Techniques and How To Pull Them Off

Welcome back Mario Kart fans! Today we are still Touring the Mario Kart world, but we have a guide on some advanced techniques that you can do in the game. The game is simple enough to pick up and play to enjoy, but there are some trickier techniques that can help you pull ahead of the competition!

In today’s guide, we will go over all of the advanced techniques and how to do them correctly. We have already gone over the drivers and how to unlock them, and we have also covered how to race well to get all five Grand Stars, so check those out if you have not already.

Without further ado, let’s get right to it: here is our Mario Kart Tour guide on advanced techniques and how to pull them off!

Manual Drifting

There a few control options you can tinker around with in the Settings, but so far the most robust yet trickiest control scheme we have found is the combination of Manual Drift and Gyro Handling enabled.

When Manual Drift is off, you can steer on the screen like normal. However, in order to perform a drift, you have to steer in the same direction for a few seconds. It is rather unwieldy but can get the job done.

When it is enabled, tapping the screen will make your kart jump, and then drift in the direction you swipe in. This is probably the most difficult thing to get used to in all of Mario Kart Tour, but stick with it and you will be able to drift like a pro in no time.

One helpful tip to remember is to not treat the swiping steering like an analog stick. Instead, try to imagine the screen is cut into two sides: the left and right sides. You can see this the best if you have your thumb in the middle of the screen at the beginning of a drift, as you can switch directions very fast by moving away from the center.

This takes a lot of getting used to, so don’t give up, and practice as much as you like on the earlier and easier tracks.

Gyro Steering

Once you do get the hang of Manual Drifting, you will still come across moments where you wish you could just slowly adjust your path a little bit without having to hop and drift all over the place.

That’s where Gyro Steering comes in. When enabled in the Settings, Gyro Steering lets you control your kart by tilting your device left and right. The most important thing to remember about this is that the gyro sensitivity is very low. Gentle tilting will only VERY slightly adjust your steering.

This is both a good and bad thing. This is bad because you cannot really use Gyro Steering as your main form of steering since it’s so sluggish, but it’s also good because you can use it to “fine-tune” your steering, which is exactly what our problem was as described earlier.

If you need to avoid something or gently correct your course, Gyro Steering is incredible helpful when you get used to it. Much like Manual Drifting, it takes a while to get used to, so don’t worry if you are not picking it up right away.

If you manage to master both Manual Drifting and Gyro Steering, congratulations – you have conquered one of the hardest techniques in Mario Kart Tour, and that’s just a control scheme!

Ultra Mini-Turbos

If you steer long enough in one direction, your kart will begin to drift, as denoted by the sparks coming from your tires. Holding a drift for long enough will cause the sparks to turn blue – let go at this point to perform a Mini-Turbo, which grants you a small burst of speed.

However, if you continue to hold the drift, the sparks will eventually turn yellow, which will result in a Super Mini-Turbo. A Super Mini-Turbo boost lasts a little longer than a normal Mini-Turbo.

Don’t stop just yet! Hold a drift for even longer and the sparks will turn pink, resulting in an Ultra Mini-Turbo! This gives you a boost that last even longer than a Mushroom, and they are the key to getting lots of points and pulling ahead of the competition. Ultra Mini-Turbos are only possible if you have Manual Drifting enabled.

Compared the other Mario Kart games, Mario Kart Tour’s tracks are a little short and small, so you may have trouble pulling off Ultra Mini-Turbos. You need a lot of space to do them correctly, and there are only a few tracks where you can reliably pull them off.

Here’s a little tip: the more you steer inward in a drift, the quicker your sparks change colors. For example, if you start a drift into a right turn, drift towards the right to build up Mini-Turbo faster. Just be mindful of where the turn ends!

Dealing with Spiny Shells

Once you get really skilled at Mario Kart Tour, you will become all too familiar with the dreaded Spiny Shell (more commonly referred to as the Blue Shell), an item that is universally hated by all Mario Kart pros.

The Blue Shell will travel along the ground, taking out any one in its path. It cannot be destroyed by regular shells, and it is a bit bigger than regular Green and Red Shells, but smaller than the Bowser Shell.

As it approaches the player in first place, it will lift off from the ground with its wings, then slam down on the leading kart, resulting a powerful explosion. If you see one of these things coming for you, expect to be knocked down to at least 3rd place.

However, there is one item that can save you from impending doom: the Super Horn! If you are approaching 1st place and you happen to pick up a Super Horn, save it! It is possible to pick up a Super Horn while you are in 1st, but it is rather rare, which is why we recommend holding onto it whenever you do pick it up, unless you are very far behind.

Destroying the Blue Shell is simple: when a Blue Shell gets near you, it will pause above you and spin around before dropping into you. Let your Super Horn rip at this moment and voila – no more Blue Shell!

One thing you might want to turn off in the Settings is the “Auto-Item” function. When this is enabled, you will automatically use all of your items on the spot if you run into more item boxes.

Drafting / Slipstreaming

If you stay behind another kart, you will begin to notice wind lines coming off of your kart. If you hold this position for about 3 seconds, the wind lines will get bigger and you will gain a sudden burst of speed.

This is known as drafting, or “slipstreaming”. If you are neck and neck with your opponents, trying this trick is a great way to pull ahead of them.

Combo Multiplier

Any time you perform an action that nets you points, you will see it pop up at the top right corner of the screen. Performing three actions in a row starts a combo multiplier, increasing the amount of points each action rewards you.

The longer your combo goes, the bigger the point multiplier will be. Super long combos will result in a ton of points for you, making combos one of the key elements of getting all five Grand Stars on a level.

Here are all the actions that grant you points:

• Mini-Turbos. The stronger Mini-Turbos give you more points
• Picking up coins from the track or from the item
• Hitting an opponent with an item
• Performing a Jump Boost
• Drafting (or Slipstreaming)
• Rocket Starts
• Using a Mushroom
• Gliding

When you first start a combo, you do not have much time before the combo expires, so you need to chain actions together rather quickly. However, as your combo grows, the time between actions becomes more lenient, so you have more time to act.

Mini-Turbos and Coins are a great way to keep your combo going whenever you hit a dry stretch with nothing to Jump Boost off of or no gliding points.

And that concludes our Mario Kart Tour guide on the advanced techniques in the game. If you have anything else we may have missed here, feel free to talk about it in the comments below!