You don't have to buy the Mario Kart 8 DLC courses to play them online

gamesradar.com:

Mario Kart 8's DLC courses will be playable online for those who don't even own them.

As first reported earlier today by Eurogamer, the forthcoming Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass tracks will be open to all via the game's multiplayer component. It's actually Nintendo's official website that's quietly revealed the new details about the DLC tracks for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

"Courses from Wave 1 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass can be played from 18th March locally or online in Friends and Rivals races, even if only one player owns the Booster Course Pass or has access to it as part of a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership," the Nintendo website reads.

Just a few days after this however, on March 22, courses from Wave 1 will be playable in the Random rotation when playing Global or Regional races with anyone online. This means, as of March 22, all new courses included in the first wave of DLC with the Booster Course Pass will be available to all when playing online.

Just last week, Nintendo unveiled the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on the Nintendo Switch in a new Nintendo Direct. The pass is actually going to add a whopping 48 new tracks to the racing game, all of which will arrive in installments between next month and the end of 2023, and it'll cost $24.99. While this wasn't the Mario Kart 9 reveal that players were desperately hoping for, it's nonetheless good news for one of Nintendo's most popular games ever.

If you're interested in how the new iterations of the tracks stack up next to their original counterparts, here's how Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course tracks look next to the originals.