A couple weeks ago, Universal Studios dropped a teaser video for the new Mario Kart Ride that will open at the US Super Nintendo World in 2023.

Super Nintendo World is already open in Japan and it looks like the US ride is the same as the one in Japan. This blog post is a great breakdown of the ride in Japan. None of the technology is new (3D props, projection, trackless vehicles, and AR/VR), but the unique combination of these elements is thought provoking.

In general, the ride looks like a trackless ride vehicle that weaves its way through a 3D environment augmented with projection and video content (similar to Universal’s Escape From Gringotts).

There are two elements that then take the Mario Kart ride to the next level. First is the use of the video projection to create a sense of faster movement. This is a trick used in all of the motion simulator rides (Star Tours). A tiny bit of movement in any direction along with the directional movement in the video content can trick your brain into thinking the physical movement is much greater than it is. Check out Orlando Park Stop’s How it Works video below at about 3:18 to see a sample of this effect.

Second is the addition of AR glasses which can then create floating and moving 3D elements to supplement the experience. There is a virtual 3D 360 degree animated environment for each of the rides “rooms” that allow 3D elements to be placed in locations that would normally interfere with the ride vehicle. It also allows for some elements (like characters in their vehicles, question marks blocks and other moving elements from the game experience to fully surround the guest. As the guest moves their head around, the glasses fill their view with this animated content and as their view changes so does the guest’s view of the virtual environment so that the virtual environment always aligns with the physical environment to create a true “in game” experience. Check out the How it Works video below at about 3:54 to see a sample of this effect.

Guests can pass other ride vehicles, run through a question mark block to gather items, and then throw those items at virtual race vehicles. Check out the How it Works video below at about 5:28 to see a sample of this effect.

Think of the glasses as transparent VR glasses (similar to AR on your phone, but more like VR since they keep tabs on your position in a 360 degree virtual environment). Since the glasses are tied to each vehicle, it is likely that the ride vehicle measures the XY position for the glasses, then the glasses only need to track rotation and the Z axis to then show the user the correct field of view through the glasses.

Using something similar to Unity, Unreal or Twin Motion, each ride room is constantly being rendered/animated and each set of glasses in each vehicle only needs to pick up what is visible in the frame of the glasses.

The icing on the cake though (also in the How it Works video from 5:28 to about 5:38), it that the ride controls and rotation of your visor impact the virtual 3D environment so that you can control where and when you throw items at the virtual ride vehicles. So not only is the AR environment being constantly rendered, it is an interactive rendering environment that can be impacted by the rider’s interactions with the environment and ride controls).

This combination of elements is a really great example (and definition) of what immersive experience can be and how to push the envelope by combining different types of media into a cohesive whole that is far greater than the sum of its parts.