The engine noises on the start-up screen is a throwback to the the engine noises on the Mario Kart 64 start-up screen.

On the Royal Raceway track, Peach's crown symbols can be found hidden behind the billboards.

If a race or time trial lasts for 9:59.999, the race or run will end automatically even if you haven't finished it yet.

If you tap the Miis on the MKTV menu using the gamepad, the Miis will have a confused reaction.

On the Cloudtop Cruise track, the shocked boost panels can be tricked into working correctly if the player uses a star while driving over them.

In Mario Kart 8's Bone Dry Dunes level, near the finish line there are tapestries on the side of the road showing a pattern of the Angry Sun from Super Mario Bros. 3.

A year after the release of Mario Kart 8, a hip-hop dance known as the "dab" would gain prominence in mainstream culture, becoming a popular internet meme. Mario fans later noticed that at certain angles, one of Donkey Kong's Jump Boost animations in Mario Kart 8 coincidentally resembled a dab, with Donkey Kong holding his head down and stretching out one of his arms, but keeping his other hand close to his head. In Mario Kart World, this animation returns in a different context. While Donkey Kong now faces his head forwards while doing the animation, straying away from dabbing, he also stretches out both arms, making the similarity to dabbing more prominent overall.