There’s over 700,000 possible builds in Mario Kart 8, and science has determined the best one

You might have your favourite combination in Mario Kart 8, but science has determined the selection that is statistically the best.

There are a whole lot of combinations in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. As it turns out, there are specifically 703,560 possible ways to mix and match characters, karts, wheels and the like, a number so large it would probably take you too large a portion of your life to get through them all. The meta for Mario Kart 8 has changed over the years, and it had a bit of a shakeup thanks to an update that came alongside the DLC tracks that were added to the game. Now, as spotted by Eurogamer, data scientist Antoine Mayerowitz has figured out which is the best possible combination you could pick to help you nab that number one spot.

Right off the bat, Mayerowitz narrowed down the combinations to just 25,704 options, as a lot of them are just copies of one another. Of course, there are different builds you might want depending on whether you favour speed, or acceleration. To figure out which is best, Mayerowitz used a method devised by economist Vilfredo Pareto. This method outlines that Bowser and Wario are fastest, but Baby Peach has the best acceleration, with Cat Peach being pretty much in the middle of both. Though, there are also the karts themselves, alongside the wheels and glider option, that you also have to consider.

The build that a lot of top players prefer actually features regular Peach, the Teddy Buggy kart, the roller tires, and the cloud glider, and as it turns out that’s pretty much the best combo when it comes to optimising speed, acceleration, and mini turbo. Mayerowitz’s website actually lets you customise just which attributes you want to prioritise too, like with stats such as handling and weight, letting you see all of the possible best options across three different stat types.

So, if you don’t want to be the best of the best, but do want to have the best option with a playstyle you feel comfortable with, you can use the site to figure it out! Or, you can choose the correct option of just picking Shy Guy every time.