Mario meets Pareto

Finding the fastest driver is as simple as ranking them by their speed statistic. Here you might think that Bowser or Wario are a no-brainer.

But you can't just rely on speed to find the optimal build. You have to consider one as well. Now, finding the best is not trivial anymore — you have to make trade-offs between and

Look closely though! You'll find out that some options are always dominated. Let's focus on this poor Koopa for instance.

Cat Peach has more speed for the same acceleration, and Toadette has more acceleration for the same speed. Between you and me, if you want to win, never allow Koopa to sit in your kart!

You can identify all efficient drivers that, unlike Koopa, are never dominated on both speed and acceleration. Together, they form what is called the Pareto front (or frontier).

Mind you: not all elements of the frontier are equally good. You probably won't pick a driver sitting on the edge of the frontier because you want some balance between speed and acceleration. The Pareto efficiency is an objective criteria to filter out suboptimal choices, but you still need to make up your final decision.

Given your play style and skills, you may put more weight on one statistic over the other. Those preferences will reveal the component on the frontier that suits you the best.

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