Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 8)

Rainbow Road is the fourth and final course of the Special Cup in Mario Kart 8. Like previous renditions, this Rainbow Road takes place in space, but also includes Mario Kart TV satellites, satellite-formed bleachers with audience cheering, and a space station-like platform. In the background lies the Earth, similar to that of Rainbow Road from Mario Kart Wii. One noticeable feature of the track is a space shuttle that resembles a Blooper, that circles around the track, similar to how the train circles around the Lightning Cup's N64 Rainbow Road. The track, similar to Rainbow Road in Super Mario Kart, is made of color square tiles that change colors like the Rainbow Roads from Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 7.

Unlike all previous renditions, this one is technology-themed and has a vast futuristic design which appears more like a stadium floating in outer space. The game's producer, Hideki Konno, describes it as "spectacular".

Course layout
The course starts with the rainbow-colored tiles. After a turn the drivers find the first anti-gravity section, that is 8-shaped. A gliding pad is found after the anti-gravity section and leads to a space station. It contains conveyor belts with opposite directions that changes over time, like Toad's Factory from Mario Kart Wii. At the end of the conveyor belts there is a slope with alternate Boosts (that turn on and off through time) and at the end of it are two gliding pads. Afterwards, the drivers are giving a boost through three mechanical Launch Stars that lead to two different anti-gravity paths.

These paths alter in height, so if the player falls from the highest one, they can simply land on the other one. The lower path offers drivers a shortcut if they stay to the right of the spin boost obstacle and go off the edge. The player can see a Blooper-like spaceship orbiting around. Then the paths reunite each other and the antigravity section ends. A 180° turn with some Boosts Pad at the outermost part, like in Mario Kart Stadium, and another turn make the track loop end. At the final 180° turn the player can see a hologram projection of the Special Cup Trophy as it appears in Mario Kart 8, but only in single-player mode. The racers then start the next lap.

Trivia

 * This Rainbow Road as well as its retro counterparts, N64 Rainbow Road and  SNES Rainbow Road (DLC), and  GCN Baby Park (DLC) are the only courses in the game to have the map in different colors instead of just blue.
 * There are three 8's in this course, referencing how it is from Mario Kart 8.
 * This is the only Rainbow Road to contain off-road surfaces that slow the player down and bleachers with audience cheering for the racers.
 * Before the finish line a screen can be seen displaying the course's map, this same detail can be found in Water Park and GCN Yoshi Circuit DLC retro course.
 * This track is one of three in the Special Cup that has activating and deactivating Boost Pads, the others being Cloudtop Cruise and Bowser's Castle.