When asked in an interview with NintendoLife why they changed the format to include the car in this game, as well as in its predecessor, Shuichiro Nishiya explained that it was done to keep the players engaged:

"In past installments, everyone would move separately through the board. As a result, the actions of the other players often didn't affect you. You could just look at the TV screen when it was your turn and during the minigames. In Mario Party 10 though, players move together in a car, so each player's action will affect the others meaning you'll need to keep an eye on the TV screen. This way, everyone's constantly involved, and we keep the flow of the game at a good pace."