User:YoYo/Sydney Sprint

Sydney Sprint is a race course featured in Mario Kart Tour. It is named after and inspired by Sydney, Australia, and made its debut in the April–May 2021 Sydney Tour, the city's namesake tour. The course visits various landmarks of the city it is based on, including letting racers go inside the Sydney Opera as well as going through the in which passengers of a nearby train car throw various items at the road. There are currently only two routes for this course, tied with Vancouver Velocity, Berlin Byways, Singapore Speedway and Amsterdam Drift. The two routes are simply named Sydney Sprint and Sydney Sprint 2.

The first route for this course is a favorite of Fire Rosalina, Cat Toad, Mario (Racing), Baby Mario (Koala), Mario (Baseball), Shy Guy (Gold), and Kamek. It is also a favorite of Yoshi (Kangaroo) if he reaches level 3. The second route is a favorite of Birdo (Black), Toadette (Explorer), Luigi (Painter), Mario (Baseball), and Yoshi (Kangaroo).

Sydney Sprint returns as the first course in the Propeller Cup in the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass.

Sydney Sprint
In the standard layout, the course begins within an area in. After a reverse curve to the right, the player enters the Sydney Opera House and makes a slight left amidst a cheering crowd to a Glide Ramp across the water. After passing under the, the player will make a 270-degree loop right amidst some fairgrounds on the left to join the highway and cross the ; while on the bridge, passengers from the  train operating on the  will throw random Mushrooms, Bananas and Bob-ombs onto the central span. The player then takes a long winding left through downtown Sydney before reaching the finish line.

At the start of the course, there is a fountain at the side of the course. If the player uses a Mushroom to hit the fountain, they will be able to perform several tricks.

The course also appears as Sydney Sprint R (reverse), Sydney Sprint T (with ramps), and Sydney Sprint R/T (reverse and with ramps).

Sydney Sprint 2
This layout is driven in the opposite direction compared to the previous layout. Like the original Sydney Sprint, the course's standard layout starts out at an area in, though it appears to take more cues from its R variant. After that, there is a long winding turn through downtown Sydney. After a turn to the left, the player can reach the highway and cross the, where passengers from the train operating on the  will throw random items onto the central span, just like Sydney Sprint. Next, there is a turn to the right which leads to the Mary Booth Lookout Reserve. After another turn to the left, there is a Glide Ramp which takes the player across some water. Next, there is a small street with a single ramp at the end. After the ramp, the player returns back to the Port Jackson area. At this section, the player can choose to go on the upper route which contains some coins, or the bottom route. The Sydney Opera House can also be seen at the background. After another turn to the left, the player reaches the Finish Line.

The course also appears as Sydney Sprint 2R (reverse), Sydney Sprint 2T (with ramps), and Sydney Sprint 2R/T (reverse and with ramps).

Appearances
For this course's tour appearances, see List of Sydney Sprint tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Sydney Sprint returns in the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It is an expanded and combined version of Sydney Sprint and Sydney Sprint 2 from Mario Kart Tour. It is the first course of the Propeller Cup, and as such was added in the second wave of the DLC. The course has received significant visual and musical upgrades. Unlike in Tour, the fountain next to the starting line is now surrounded by grass, is much smaller, and is level with the track instead of slightly raised up, acting as an off-road shortcut. The Toads on the Tangara train now throw coins onto the track, replacing the Mushrooms, Bananas and Bob-ombs that could be thrown from them in the original.

It is one of two courses from Mario Kart Tour to appear in the second wave, alongside.

Course layout
The first lap follows the layout of the first Sydney Sprint route, while the second lap follows a route not seen before, as well as elements of Sydney Sprint 2. This time, the arrow field points to the left, where the player jumps into a, matching the one seen in Tour's Glider Challenge set in , before jumping out and onto a dock at under the bridge. The path afterwards continues through along a winding narrow path split down the middle, one half banking downwards into the turns while the other half remains level. After getting back on the road, the player approaches the Sydney Harbour Bridge again, but this time from the opposite direction to the first lap, allowing them to use the ramps in the middle. At the end of the bridge, the path begins following Sydney Sprint 2's layout, where an arrow field points to the right, which leads to the Mary Booth Lookout Reserve. After another turn to the left, there is a Glide Ramp which takes the player over some water and onto a small street in between the two main buildings of the Sydney Opera House with a small ramp at the end. After the ramp, the player turns right to return back to the Port Jackson area. After another turn to the left, the player reaches the finish line.

The third lap starts in the opposite direction as the last two (currently making this the only track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to have this trait) and is based on the route of Sydney Sprint R from Tour, making this the first time the R variant of a city track is directly used as the layout of a lap. As such, it follows the same layout as the first lap, but in reverse, with the player first crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge (which again allows players to use the ramps), followed by taking a large turn through Luna Park, then gliding into the Sydney Opera House, and finally returning to the Circular Quay area where the race ends.

Trivia

 * In a Play Nintendo article, the course's name is misspelled as Sydney Spring.