Finally, someone used Pareto economic theories to find the best Mario Kart 8 driver.

Who hasn’t spent sleepless nights thinking about what would happen if we applied the theories of Vilfredo Pareto (the Italian economist of the early 20th century) to Mario, the Italian high jump champion from the Mushroom Kingdom and cosplayer elephants part-time? Data Scientist Antoine Mayerowitz, PhDaddressed this age-old question, and the resulting work provides an objective way to tell us the best Mario Kart 8 runners’ suits. Hint: for sure hell it’s not Koopa Troopa.

When you break down the build options (including driver stats and various vehicle details) into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, there are more than 700,000 possible combinations. Yeah. But once you eliminate the duplicates that only differ in appearance, you can narrow it down to “only” 25,704 possibilities. How do you refine the rankings to find the best runner from there? Enter Mr. Pareto.

Pareto theories, in particular Pareto face, help us navigate the complexities of choice. They can identify solutions with the most balanced strengths and the fewest compromises. Pareto’s work is about efficiency and effectiveness. We are talking now.

When choosing a Mario Kart driver, you need to consider their Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Weight, Off-Road, and Mini Turbo stats. That’s a lot to weigh.

Even if you decide that speed and acceleration are most important, you still end up with imbalances. For example, it’s tempting to focus on speed (like Bowser or Wario), but they have low acceleration. However, if you’re more focused on acceleration (like Baby Mario or Dry Bones), you may end up with quick bursts that cap out at a lousy top speed.

Meanwhile, some riders are still dominated in the most important stats, meaning their balance of speed and acceleration is consistently behind. Koopa is an example of this, so don’t choose him if you want to win. (But you can definitely choose it because it has cute bug eyes and a stylish shell.)

Mayerowitz’s Pareto front analysis allows you to narrow down your options to the 14 most efficient. And it turns out that the game‘s best players were right: one of the combinations with the most ideal balance of speed, acceleration and mini-turbo is Cat Peach Driving the Teddy Buggy, Roller Tires and Cloud Glider — one already favored among Mario Kart 8 competitors.

Of course, if this combination isn’t your cup of tea, there are others that keep you within the Pareto optimal range. As Eurogamer points out, Donkey Kong, Wario (my old replacement, mostly because he makes me laugh), and Princess Peach are often featured as drivers, and you can use Mayerowitz’s data fields to find the best-suited vehicles. Keep in mind that the others have identical stats, so racers like Villager (female), Inkling Girl, and Diddy Kong are only separated by appearance.

To find your ideal runner, you can go to the Mayerowitz website. There you can enter your most valuable stats and view the combos that give you the best balance (those highlighted in yellow), according to Pareto theories.