OK, I haven't wrote on here for ages, so please bear with me!
This post is going to be a comparison between two console games, one is a classic and the other is brand new, but has the potential to be a classic.
OK, so Mario Kart has 3 classes for your Kart 50, 100 & 150cc, plus it has the awesome mirror mode.. Well F1 Race Stars has essentially the same amount of classes, the only difference being that in F1 the numbers are larger! This is to give the Karts the appearance of being Formula class racers, but essentially both games are the same as each other when it comes to classes.
Now we come to power-ups....hmmmm Codemasters appear to have been playing loads of Kario Mart, (deliberate misspellings there folks!) Prior to coding (bad pun intended) F1 as the power ups are the basically the same, both have turbo boost, both have a feature that fires you forward like a rocket, (Bullet Bill in Mario Kart and a NOS canister in F1)
Both have a forward firing seeking missile, both have a rebounding missile (green shell/yellow bubble). An attack that slows the leader right down, an attack on everyone in front of you (lightning in Mario Kart and a rain storm in F1), etc. Once played you will realize that each of the power ups in F1 is the same as a power up in Mario Kart.
Both games have plenty of course choices too, but instead of the standard 4 races per championship F1 starts with 2 and progressively adds more plus you also get different championship game modes, I feel that in this category F1 just shades it because of the other game mode inclusions in the career/championship mode. I know shocking isn't it!
F1s numerous game modes can be played online too, but I think Mario Kart is more fun online because its just straight up races against unknown people or your friends. And while the same holds true for F1 what let's it down is the huge size of the races, and online racing can be torture at times, trust me I know, I have both Gran Turismo and Forza 4 so I know what of I speak! And the torture is more frustrating in games with huge courses as they take longer to finish. And this may lead to a bad online experience, please note I said may, this is not to say it would frustrate everyone.
F1s big thing though is the KERS corner boost. This can be the difference between winning and losing and is something that should be included in all Kart games, its a bit like Mario Karts drift boost, and once you master it it becomes the light at the end of the tunnel if your sitting at 5th and going in to the last corner.
Sadly F1 is let down because it doesn't have an equivalent to Rainbow Road..I love both games but I would say Mario Kart shades it as the better game, but maybe F1s DLC will change that, will have to wait and see.....