Mario Kart World tech analysis, including frame rate and resolution

Mario Kart World is the big Nintendo Switch 2 launch game, and Digital Foundry has provided insight from the technical side of things, providing details on things like frame rate, resolution, and more. There’s also some information about improvements compared to the series’ last entry.

Here’s the full rundown:

– Baked lighting is back, game relies heavily on light maps
– Pre-calculated direct lighting mirrors Mario Kart 8
– Only limited use of real time shadows for player vehicles and certain bits of trackside detail
– Indirect diffused lighting is now higher quality with clear bounce light contribution
– Real-time weather changes
– Relies extensively on real-time lighting for reflections
– However, seems to make heavy use of real-time cube maps used for things like water
– Water in Mario Kart World is a step up compared to Mario Kart 8
– Quality of materials in Mario Kart World is also a step up thanks to higher texture resolution and techniques like normal mapping
– This game sometimes uses more complex shaders
– Characters in the stands are now fully 3D
– More interactive world compared to Mario Kart 8
– Mario Kart World resolution is 1080p in handheld mode
– 1440p resolution when docked
– No signs of DRS
– Docked mode has a touch of post-process image treatment to adjust the 1440p resolution
– Docked and portable modes very similar, though distant LODs a little less detailed in handheld mode and cube map resolution is decreased
– Mario Kart World frame rate is locked 60 FPS for gameplay
– Photo Mode hits a 30 FPS target
– No dips
– No performance issues when playing with GameChat
– Loading times are pretty quick

Find the Mario Kart World technical analysis below for more information about the game’s frame rate, resolution, and more.

Tech Analysis

Mario Kart World can be purchased now on Nintendo Switch 2. We have a review here.