What is Smart Steering in Mario Kart World?

Mario Kart World‘s smart steering feature is one of the Switch 2 game’s many unexplained features, but it’s one you’ll likely want to turn off after a short while. Smart Steering has its uses when you’re learning how to play Mario Kart World, but beyond that, it actively prevents you from exploring and finding secrets in each course.

Below, we explain what Smart Steering is in Mario Kart World, how to turn it on or off, and when you might benefit from it.

Mario Kart World’s Smart Steering explained

Smart Steering is a feature that keeps you from going off the road during a race. When you approach the edge of a track, Smart Steering automatically redirects your trajectory and pushes you away from the edge so you’re not in danger of dragging your kart along the wall. Smart Steering doesn’t care if you want to go off-track or if there’s a rail you want to do sick tricks on. You have to stay on the course when the feature is enabled.

How to turn off Smart Steering

You can enable or disable Smart Steering during any single-player race or free-roam drive by pausing the game and pressing the “X” button, then toggling the Smart Steering setting on or off. You can also change it on the kart selection screen before a race by pressing “X” and toggling the setting.

Should you use Smart Steering in Mario Kart World?

If you’re new to racing games, want to learn the basics in a low-pressure way, or are struggling to stay on the track during some of a course’s more demanding turns, Smart Steering is an excellent way to acclimate to Mario Kart World. 

However, once you feel comfortable handling turns, you should disable Smart Steering. Almost all of Mario Kart World‘s shortcuts are off the main course, and Smart Steering’s sensitivity means it frequently won’t let you use grind rails that are placed on the track’s edge. That’s most grind rails except for a few courses that have railroad or mine tracks down the middle of the road, which means you’re missing out not just on essential speed-boosting methods, but on alternate routes through a course as well.

Did you just get a Nintendo Switch 2? Are you trying to unlock every character and outfit in Mario Kart World? Or maybe you’re trying out The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the first time and you need a walkthrough for those pesky stoplights in the Forsaken Fortress? Either way, we have your back when it comes to helping you sort stuff out.

We have guides explaining how to set up your console (moving data from your original Switch to your Switch 2) as well as guides for things like getting external storage sorted out.