Mario Kart World Update 1.7.0 Adds Two Free Knockout Tour Routes and Nintendo Says More Are Coming

Nintendo quietly dropped a free update for Mario Kart World on June 30, 2026, and for once it is actually adding something worth playing. Version 1.7.0 brings two new routes to Knockout Tour, the mode where 24 drivers race from one end of the massive open world to the other and get cut at five checkpoints until only a handful survive. The new routes are called Drill Rally and Boomerang Rally, and Nintendo confirmed that more are on the way.

What the Two New Routes Actually Cover

Drill Rally threads through Wario Shipyard and ends at Bowser's Castle. If you have been sleeping on Wario Shipyard, it is one of the stronger tracks in the game, and routing it into Bowser's Castle makes for a nasty stretch at the end where the roads narrow and the margins for survival get thin. Boomerang Rally takes a different path, linking Salty Salty Speedway to Whistlestop Summit, which should produce a wildly different rhythm since you go from a wide beach course into the elevated mountain section. Both routes use existing tracks, not new ones, so do not get excited thinking Nintendo snuck in fresh environments. These are new groupings of six courses strung together into a single rally.

Knockout Tour works differently from Grand Prix. There is no lap counter and no isolated race per track. You are driving continuously across linked courses, and at each of the five checkpoints the drivers sitting at the back of the pack get eliminated on the spot. It starts chaotic with 24 players crammed together and ends with a tiny group of survivors sprinting to the finish. It is genuinely one of the most stressful and fun modes in any Mario Kart, and the problem has been that the base game launched with a limited number of rally routes. Two more is a real addition.

The Other Thing in the Update That Nobody Asked For

Version 1.7.0 also adds stickers to Photo Mode. You can now slap stickers you have collected onto your screenshots before saving them. Nintendo framed this as a meaningful update in the patch notes. It is not. Photo Mode additions are fine for those who care about screenshots, but they are clearly there to pad out the patch notes and give the impression that more happened than actually did. The sticker feature works as described and the screenshots do come out looking cheerful. That is about all there is to say about it.

Community Reaction Is Split, and Both Sides Have a Point

Some fans are treating these two new routes like a major win. The comparison going around is that this is free content on the scale of the Booster Course Pass from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is a stretch but captures the enthusiasm around Knockout Tour being the highlight mode of the game. Others are openly irritated. The argument from that camp is that what players have been begging for since launch is actual new tracks, new characters, and new karts, and getting route remixes made of existing courses feels like Nintendo is stalling. Both takes are fair. New Knockout Tour routes do extend the life of the mode, and they are free, but the absence of entirely new content after a full year is a legitimate frustration for players who paid full price.

Nintendo Confirmed More Routes Are Coming

The Nintendo blog post that announced the update included one important line: additional Knockout Tour routes are planned for future updates. No dates, no specifics, just a promise that this is not the end of the route additions. Nintendo also noted that the new routes only become available after you clear at least one existing Knockout Tour rally, which keeps things gated for new players without being annoying for anyone who has been playing since launch.

The Bigger Problem Nintendo Has Not Addressed

Mario Kart World launched as the flagship Switch 2 title and sold enormous numbers on the back of that position. The game itself is strong, and Knockout Tour in particular landed as the freshest thing the series had done in years. But it has been over a year since launch and the core content pool has not changed in any meaningful way. There are no new Grand Prix cups. There are no new characters. The roster of karts and tracks is the same as it was on day one. Nintendo's strategy of trickle-feeding Knockout Tour routes is sustainable for a little while longer, but if the answer to player demands for new courses is always another route remix of existing tracks, the goodwill runs out fast. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe had the Booster Course Pass, which delivered 48 actual new courses over two years. Mario Kart World players deserve to know whether something comparable is coming, and Nintendo has not said a word about it.

Should You Update and Jump Back In

If you have already cleared all the gold trophies in Knockout Tour, Drill Rally and Boomerang Rally give you two fresh targets to work toward. The update downloads automatically so there is nothing to do except launch the game. If you have not touched Knockout Tour yet, now is a fine time to start since the mode pool is the biggest it has been. Nintendo says more routes are coming and the structure of the game makes it easy to slot in new ones without disrupting anything else. The update does not fix the bigger question of where new tracks and characters are, but it is a real addition and not a nothing patch. Take it for what it is.