N64 Toad's Turnpike

Toad's Turnpike is the 3rd longest course and the first course in the Flower Cup of Mario Kart 64. It is named after Toad and pictures of him are seen on the boundaries of the racetrack. The race track takes place on a public road at night. There are vehicles driving on this course which cause the racer's kart to fly if a collision between the two occurs. The overall shape of this course is roughly a figure 8, with some parts of the road with varying lane quantity. All Item Boxes of this track are located in the edge of a concave area where the road includes. Toad's Turnpike also appeared as a retro track in Mario Kart 8 as the final track of the Shell Cup.

This course was the first in a series of similar race tracks in the Mario Kart series, to be filled with cars that come at the player. This type of race track reappears in the form of Mushroom City and Mushroom Bridge in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Shroom Ridge and the returning Mushroom Bridge in Mario Kart DS, Moonview Highway in Mario Kart Wii, Wuhu Loop in Mario Kart 7 and Toad Harbor in Mario Kart 8 though it has to be noted that Toad Harbor features cable cars following rails instead of cars.

Mario Kart 64
Toad's Turnpike remains straightforward in terms of track layout. It appears as a figure 8 esque course featuring cars and trucks driving throughout the course. Various points of the track have small openings with four item boxes in each. A thin line of grass borders both sides of the track and is blocked off by a white fence. Should the player be knocked over the fence by items such as a Red Shell, Lakitu will bring the player back to the main road.

In 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc, the vehicles go forward in the direction where karts go. The engine class also affects how fast the vehicles move; traffic moves slowly in 50cc, but is quite fast in 150cc. The difficulty resides in the fact that the larger vehicles go slowly through the road, sometimes blocking the player (especially when approaching the finish line). In mirror mode, the vehicles drive toward the racers at a rather fast speed (same speed as from 150cc), which causes obvious difficulties.

Instruction Manual Description
''Normally, Karts shouldn't drive on a public road, but for some reason, Toad's Turnpike is one of the courses! Drive in a way so that you won't block the large buses or trucks. Cutting one off or driving too slow can cause accidents.''

Mario Kart 8
Toad's Turnpike returns in Mario Kart 8 as a retro course, this time being the final race of the Shell Cup, albeit on a smaller scale. The course now takes place in Toad City, as seen on some cars and signs in the course. Though not mentioned in-game, it is likely that the city is located within the one found below N64 Rainbow Road. It is home to Toad Services, as well as the MKTV Headquarters, which is seen in the background. A turnpike has been added near the start, giving the English name more significance, and the starting banner now resembles a electronic message sign (or "matrix sign").

Although the basic layout stays the same, there are anti-gravity sections among the walls at some points, which help avoid the traffic, but the route is slower. All racers now start on the area where vehicles drive on, instead of the joining starting section that used to be there. Furthermore, the start and finish line is now located on the section that bridges over the traffic. Some trucks have ramps that let players drive on them and a gliding pad, and the pink pickup trucks have a surfboard which serves as a simple ramp. Should one land on a normal truck or bus, some will have a small ramp. The traffic pattern is now chosen randomly rather than being based on engine class, and the vehicles always move at the same speed.

Item boxes, as well as coins, now move along the road. The yellow school buses are now replaced by different colored transportation buses while the light blue tank trucks are gone. A few helicopters are added, and the cars take a more realistic appearance, with some cars in different color schemes based on Toyota Comfort taxi, popular in Japan. Multiple sponsors now appear in the background. Also, vehicles cause players to flip only if they drive quickly enough into the vehicle. The road is now a two-way road, whereas in the original, the cars moved in only one direction.

Toad's Turnpike also appears as a battle course. It is largely unchanged from the race track, except coin sections now have a single item box. Item boxes are also stationary. The pink pickup trucks and glider trucks are also absent.

Trivia

 * The vehicles will not honk their horns in the 50cc mode.
 * While "turnpike" refers to a toll road, the name was not meant to be a description of the course: "turnpike" was chosen for alliteration in English and Dutch versions. In the Mario Kart 8 rendition, however, the real turnpike was added in the starting line.
 * A portion of Mario Kart 7's Neo Bowser City (Koopa City in the PAL versions) course's theme has the main tune of Toad's Turnpike.
 * In Mario Kart 8, one of the advertisements seen on the billboards is a radio frequency, which is 64MHz, a reference to the course's origins.
 * In Mario Kart 8, the vehicles will indicate that they are changing lanes when the highway merges from three lanes into two.
 * While the vehicles do not drive at the player in Mirror Mode in Mario Kart 8, it is still possible for the vehicles to do so. The map chooses at random from several traffic pattern sets and uses them for the race, allowing for a differing degree of difficulty each time; one of these patterns has the vehicles in the utter-most right lane moving towards the racers, mirroring the EXTRA Mode from Mario Kart 64.
 * In Mario Kart 8, Toad's Turnpike is one of the two retro courses where the anti-gravity sections are optional, the other being GCN Sherbet Land.