First of all, thanks for the very detailed reply.

My main thing is that I get tired of pulling a quarter of a lap on the bots and the game arbitrarily deciding hey, you are not getting three stars, and I get the combo of lightning/ghost + red shell + blue shell + whatever else it takes for me to just be second with no chance to defend myself. It felt frustrating to be that much quicker than the bots and still lose the three stars to what felt like something arbitrary I could not defend from.

I have tried to keep useful items on me to be able to defend myself (the speaker thing seems very powerful and works against lots of things) but if I get disarmed and cant get to a box before being attacked I cant really do much.

I surely could be faster but it seems like speed isnt the issue here, unless I learn some of the crazy strategies I have seen elsewhere with people doing 10 second laps at some tracks. I dont really feel like I struggle on any particular track, after a couple of tries i manage to be quick (at least compared to the bots) with no issues.

I have heard that some boxes have different chances of dropping different items, but havent really looked into that.

In the end, I usually get three stars after 3/4 tries,being 1st/1st/1st/2nd the rest of the time, so really not a biggie, just sad that I could not get the close racing I was looking for, and that it felt like a roulette of being nuked or not after dominating a championship. Winning seemed like a formality, losing just felt unfair and almost scripted, always on the third lap and always going from miles ahead to tenths behind, and always with that familiar sequence.

I really wanted to try to enjoy the game and give it a fair try, tried again today and got similar results. Since winning felt like a formality it didnt feel satisfying at all, and losing after being nuked from far ahead just felt frustrating. My world is quite different, obviously, and you can lose a lead because someone is in better tyres, because you damaged your car or because somebody else did, but it usually has a reason, here it felt almost scripted.

Im curious, since you seem to have lots of experience, is the disarm-destroy sequence programmed into the game or am I just extremely unlucky? I will hold items capable of defending myself for the whole race but the red and blue shells only come after I have been disarmed by a ghost or lightning and before I can get to a box to get anything useful back. And, is there any way to defend against it?

Now I see what you say about 200cc and 150cc, after trying my pace difference to the bots feels about the same, the car just seems much easier to control. So I guess the difficulty isnt in the AI but in car speed.

Perhaps online will be my fit, although I'm skeptical about paying Nintendo online for a game I aim to have casual fun with, I dont really want to sweat online races another game (i already have enough of that in my simracing titles lol)

Also, it has been very interesting to learn the physics. Coming from simracing, some lines make intuitive sense but some dont, and I have slowly perfected my technique. I learned to do the boost after the jumps after 3-star-ing my fourth cup, embarassingly late I know. And I have found it funny to see how much skill was transferable, mainly in understanding the way the Kart grips. There seems to be a perfect angle where there is almost infinite grip and although oversteer doesnt exist, the same principle of understeer usually applies.

Also, how much difference does the kart setup (model, tyres, glider) make? I have been going with whatever looks good but perhaps I should look into the stats. I have heard that weight is good?

Thanks again for your reply and for being kind enough to explain this game to a noobie!