Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Guide: How to Turn On Motion Controls

Ever since Mario Kart hit the Wii it has had motion controls as a central part of the gameplay. Some players love it, some hate it, but there’s no doubt that those who enjoy it always want to use it. For the latest game on Switch motion controls are off by default. Here’s our guide for how to turn motion controls on in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Much like how you turn Smart Steering on and off in the kart selection screen, you can do the same for motion controls in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Before you start a race you can pull up the stats menu while selecting the parts of your kart. On the bottom left will be the icon for motion controls, which you can turn on or off by hitting the Y button.

You can do the same thing during a race. Just hit Plus to open the menu and then hit Y to turn motion controls on or off, depending on what you want for the race.

Motion controls in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe work great, though they’ll never be as quick and precise as standard controllers. This even includes the Joy-Con, which work quite well at controlling the game. It’s also rather jarring to use motion controls when playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in handheld mode on the Switch, with the screen constantly in motion.

Still, if you’re a motion control fan then you need to know how to turn it on, so hopefully this guide was helpful. And if you hate them, then at least you know what to do the next time your young relatives are visiting and demand that they be able to control their kart with motion controls. Telling them to shut up and use the Switch Pro Controller like an adult didn’t go well for me last time.