Report: Mario Kart Making Its Virtual Reality Debut In Japan

We've already got a great deal of Mario Kart games to get excited for here in the U.S., including the recent Nintendo Switch release Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. But over in Japan, arcades will be getting a much-respected racing game – and it'll be in virtual reality.

You read that right – a VR-based Mario Kart title. UploadVR recently reported that this official website notes that the Bandai Namco arcade game Mario Kart Arcade GP would be making its way to arcades in Shinjuku, Tokyo, supported by the HTC Vive. For good measure, the trailer above features footage of the game in action – and it actually looks really good based on the small snippets.

No other details have been revealed just yet, but it looks like it has Nintendo's seal of approval (through its partnership with Bandai Namco for the arcade games), and also enables you to sit in a real cockpit and steer with a wheel, while having functions for drifting and throwing items, of course.

This could very well lead to more Nintendo VR experiences in the future, depending on the success of this one. It's quite a noteworthy title for the company, indicating that it could be trying to reach out to yet another new market – like it did with mobile with the release of such titles as Miitomo and Super Mario Run.

The company hasn't made any official note about the game coming to the U.S., but it's certainly a possibility, since more arcades are starting to adapt to virtual reality technology. And with Bandai Namco's distribution, it could easily work out a deal with HTC Vive to bring it here.

For now, though, it looks like you'll need to travel to Tokyo to enjoy what Mario Kart Arcade GP VR has to offer, along with the Dragonball Z style experience that's also being offered. Any day that we can throw turtle shells and epic fireballs at people in a virtual world would definitely be considered a good day for us.

We'll let you know if Nintendo makes any official announcements. For now, um, we need to book some overseas travel…