What The Karters 2: Turbo Charged is
The Karters 2: Turbo Charged is a kart racer with combat in the mix, made by Pixel Edge Games, a small indie studio from Poland. It takes inspiration from Crash Team Racing but runs on its own systems, with its own tracks, characters and mechanics. The game is in Early Access, so it is still being worked on and expanded. It runs on Steam and Steam Deck.
There are 16 official race tracks and 6 battle arenas to drive on. Seven game modes are available: Race, Time Trial, Duo-Time Trial, Battle without a time limit, Elimination, Road Breaker and Quick Cut, with more planned. A single-player campaign is included as well.
Playing together with your group
Split-screen supports up to 6 players on one machine, and that split-screen can also be played online, so friends on other setups can join the same session. Online play runs on dedicated servers with ranked matchmaking, and there is Team VS Team both online and local. Cups go up to 24 rounds and support Team VS Team and online play, which gives a group a longer format to work through together rather than just single races.
Remote Play Together is available, so one person can host and others join in from their own machines.
Ghost data and competition
Ghost racing is built in, and ghost data can be downloaded and shared from the leaderboards. There is a Next Best Ghost option to chase during a run. Global rankings cover leaderboards, monthly ELO rankings, all-time ELO rankings and tournaments, so there is a competitive layer beyond your own group if you want it.
Modding and things to know before starting
Steam Workshop support is included from day one, with more than 1500 mods already available covering tracks, characters and more. Mod browsing is built directly into the game, so you can look through and install mods without leaving it. Since the game is in Early Access, expect things to change and new content to arrive over time; the store notes that more game modes are still to come.