In an Ask the Developer article on the Nintendo website, Yabuki spoke about the new open-world system and the number of courses available with it.

"You don’t just race on the courses," Yabuki said. "The areas between courses are also used for racing.

"So it’s as if there are courses spread out all over the world, and if you were to add up all the possible variations, it would easily exceed 100."

Fans of the Mario Kart franchise will be really excited to hear the comments, which suggest Mario Kart World will be the biggest game in the series to date.

In addition to the open-world aspect of Mario Kart World, the game contains a superb new online mode called Knockout Tour.

The new game mode sees 24 players compete in an elimination-style race across multiple checkpoints.

The length of the courses and regular item placement means that despite losing four racers at every checkpoint, the chaos never subsides.

You always feel like you're in with a chance of making the cut-off point, even if you find yourself in last place with just a few corners to go. It really is a fantastic new game mode.

In addition to Knockout Tour, fans can race against human and computer opponents in a traditional Gran Prix mode.