The only stats that characters have are weight. Weight effects 2 things: how easily you get pushed around from collisions with other players, and your offroad speed. The lighter you are, the higher your offroad speed. Dry bones is the lightest character (has the lowest weight stat), so he can go the fastest offroad.

Also here's a list of the characters from heaviest to lightest

Bowser R.O.B. Wario DK Waluigi Mario Luigi Daisy Peach Yoshi Shy Guy Toad Dry Bones

Beta is a well known mkds time trialer who has 7 wrs in prb non-sc time trials. https://mkwrs.com/mkds/ https://mkwrs.com/mkds/profile.php?player=Beta

Also, in my opinion, I feel that you have better control of exactly when left and right are being pressed, while stick feels more unexact.

D-pad in the end is objectively slightly better. In the event that you need to rapidly press LEFT or RIGHT, d pad lets you mash, while with stick you have to slide to the left then return to neutral. For example, if you need to (non-drift) turn to the left at an angle that is too small for holding left, and too great for slowly pressing left on and off, you can mash left really quickly with d pad. In the end it's only a tiny difference.

Okay cool. I'll be here if you need me.

I have some advice that is not talked about a lot but works for me. Try watching good speedruns and time trials of this game with the volume UP. Listen to the rhythm that the sparks make. Now, play the game yourself with the volume UP. Try to make your rhythm as close as possible without rushing; it is better to get a drift boost a little slow then to miss the drift boost completely. For example, watch this:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TOIUYeA3GBc with the volume up. Listen to the "wsh whoo" that the drifting sparks make. The timing of the audio is when you have to press in the direction of your drift. For example, if you are drifting to the right, You hop, press right, then left, then RIGHT ("WSH" SOUND), then left, then RIGHT("WHOO" SOUND).

Another tip that not many talk about is that you want to get rid of your red sparks and boost as soon as possible. This helps you snake and connect your drift boosts. You want to release your drift boost IMMEDIATLY as you get the red sparks, unless you need to purposefully wait to make the right path.

Also, practicing snaking on GCN Luigi circuit is pretty helpful.

I've TTed and done speedruns of this game for a while. If you want, I would be willing to be a moderator. I have a lot of free time and I go on this website a lot.

Does anyone have frame data of this game? I want to know the frame data of drifting. For example, when drifting left, what are the first possible frames you should press left and right to get the drift boost the fastest as possible?