Data Scientist Calculates The Most Optimal Build In ‘Mario Kart 8’

Earlier this year, freelance data scientist Antoine Mayerowitz uploaded a blog post to hir website showing the best build to have the fastest racer in Mario Kart 8. For this, he used the “Pareto Front” to calculate the efficiency of each of the 703,560 combinations of character, vehicle, tires and glider used for player builds in the racing game.

Designed by the Italian polymath Vilfredo Pareto, the front sets all of the solutions calculated by the Pareto Efficiency. Mayerowitz used this method to combine the different builds players can make in Mario Kart 8 down to 14 of the most efficient after cutting down on the style options and breaking down the other characters, vehicles, tires and gliders into graphs based on speed and acceleration.

For the build that was most optimized for speed and acceleration, it was concluded that using the character Peach driving the Teddy Buggy vehicle with Roller Tires and the cloud glider would work best for players wanting to be the fastest racer.

In his blog post, Mayerowitz supports his findings with several interactable graphs that readers can adjust based on the combinations’ parameters and whether they want better speed or acceleration for a build.

This is not the first interactive post Mayerowitz has designed on his site, as he also delves into the world of shaders in an educational post where visitors can adjust code values to change the look of a fragment shader in OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL). He has also made posts regarding his generative art and web design projects.

Released in 2014, Mario Kart 8 has been cited as one of the “best-selling video games of all time,” with 8.46 million units sold on the Wii U and 60.58 million units of the 2017 Nintendo Switch adaptation, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, being sold.