The augmented reality Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is now available for purchase on the Nintendo Store, letting you cruise around your home with a real-life RC car while controlling the action from your Switch.
Although it was scheduled to go up tomorrow, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is now listed on the Nintendo Store. It's available in two variants – a Luigi set or a Mario set – and retails for $99.99. Each set will also come with a variety of cardboard Checkpoints and track markers for you to create your courses. At the time of writing both Luigi and Mario sets were sold out, however we're hopeful that more will be listed tomorrow when the product goes live at other retailers.
This is a bold new direction for Mario Kart – and augmented reality in general. Home Circuit brings back most of the staples from the franchise, including item boxes and environmental hazards, but everything plays out on a track set up throughout your home. You'll control a real RC car as it speeds through your living room on a track you yourself have designed.
The action is broadcast to your Switch using a camera mounted on top of the car. Seeing your house turned into an actual Mario Kart course is half the appeal of Home Circuit and – as long as you have space in your house – it's a unique way to experience the classic kart racer.
While it's no doubt an incredible technological leap, early impressions say that there are still a few kinks to work out. For example, it's recommended that you don't get more than five meters away from the kart, otherwise you might lose signal. This seems to be even more true for driving around walls or large objects, as the kart can't properly relay the signal to your Switch.
Its also not recommended to take the kart off any ramps or drop it from any height at all. That means you can forget about catching some air and attaching a makeshift glider to your fragile RC car. Still, for the first attempt at a wild AR experiment it seems that Home Circuit is living up to the hype.