Chatter: What would Mario do?

Before South by Southwest Interactive even started in full on Friday, the chatter was starting. “Is it real?” “What is it?” “Can anybody go?”

“Mario Kart Reimagined,” a real-life set of “Mario Kart” -style gokarts here for South by Southwest Gaming, is indeed real. It’s four-player go-karting with wireless-enabled power-ups on a real track. Can anybody go? If you are over 18 and you are not under the influence of alcohol, you can ride, but you may be waiting in line for a while.

All told, we spent more than an hour and a half before we actually got on the track, and that was in the context of a press preview, not the open-tothe-public karting that’s likely to attract lengthy lines.

Four players race (though it doesn’t feel particularly competitive; think of it more as a fourlap free ride) around the track and it takes about five minutes. GoPro cameras are set up on each kart to capture the action, and a team of video production staff then edits the videos, enhancing them with “Mario Kart”- style effects and animation, and emails them to participants. We haven’t seen one of these videos yet, but are told it incorporates elements from Nintendo’s upcoming “Mario Kart 8” for Wii U.

Riding requires a helmet, the watching of a safety video and a breathalyzer test. See a video at austin360.com/digitalsavant.