Customizing your Mario Kart Tour controls


Open up your settings menu to access the additional control options. While some are obvious, others have some unfortunate side-effects.
In the Control Method section of the settings, you'll see Manual Drift, Smart Steering, Auto-item, and Gyro Handling. Each of these options changes the way you play the game, and mixing and matching them will be the best way to customize the controls to your liking.
Auto-item is one of the more interesting options. Auto-item will make it so you use or drop any items you're holding as you hit a new item box in order to get a completely fresh selection. This is nice, but not great if you intend to save a Super Horn or something like that. As a result, more experienced players may wish to play with it turned off. It's down to preference, but you should definitely experiment to see what works best for you.
For the very best manual controls possible, I recommend…
  • Manual Drift - On
  • Smart Steering - Off
  • Auto-item - Off
  • Gyro Handling - On

1
Manual drift or swipe steer

This gets explained to you in the early tutorial. Essentially, it's swipe to steer versus swiping to drift across the track.
Now, you get a decent amount of mobility when drifting, and can tightly control a drift around massive corners, making manual drift ideal.
Swiping the screen to steer might seem like a better or more accurate way to control, but honestly it's not as useful or convenient as manual drifting.

2
Smart steering

Now, smart steering is essentially an auto-correct for the poor mobile controls of Mario Kart Tour. It's not the game, it's just that mobile really isn't built for a game like this.
Smart steering will cleverly keep you on the track as you move forward, and if you come too close to the boundaries of the track you will slow down, and be pushed into the right direction.
If you're struggling to navigate your kart, then smart steering is actually incredibly useful, and recommended. But if you're looking for more control then turn it off, as this can actually prevent you from using off-track shortcuts.

3
Gyro Handling

Usually I'm not one to suggest motion controls for a Mario Kart game, but for Mario Kart Tour, I will make an exception.
Manual drifting is the best way to drift, that's for certain, and for best control over your kart you should also be able to steer. Without being able to do so with a tap or swipe, Gyro Handling is your option.
It is somewhat awkward at first, but you'll quickly adjust to the way it feels to steer and drift at the same time