IGN’s Lucy O’Brien traveled to Japan’s Shinjuku VR Zone, Bandai Namco’s newly opened VR arcade featuring bespoke VR games from top properties including Dragon Ball, Gundam, Evangelion, and yes, Mario Kart.
O’Brien is seen on video describing her experience with Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, an officially licensed title made by Bandai Namco, available only at VR Zone. Four players sit in motion racing seats and don HTC Vive headsets with Vive Trackers attached to their hands. From a first-person view, players drive the karts and can reach up into the air with their hands to pick up floating items like shells and hammers to use against opponents in typical Mario Kart fashion.
O’Brien is clearly a bit flustered after her experience which she called her “favorite by far,” out of the available games at VR Zone, and said that “the actual thrill of the experience is just so ridiculously high.” If that wasn’t enough praise, she rounded out her impressions by saying it was “honestly one of the most incredible Mario Kart experiences I’ve ever had, I’m still kind of shaking from it.”
Part of the fun was the motion racing seats which offer several forms of feedback to immerse players: motion-based rumble and tilting, force-feedback from the steering wheel, and even fans to simulate speed, flying, and other effects.
You can get another glimpse of the gameplay and excitement here from Engadget: