Since Nintendo often views their characters as characters in a play, to be used how the individual story needs them to be used, my head canon is that Mario Kart / Party / other sports games are the “real” Mario characters, and the main line games are in-universe stories.
Fast and Furious: all gang conflict is resolved by racing in cars.
West Side Story: all gang conflict is resolved by dancing and singing in troupes.Let us have this
Have you seen any of the Fast and Furious? They race for fun but use guns and missiles to resolve the conflicts. Or start conflicts.
To be honest Mario is Italian, racing on any road is second nature. One does not know synchronized chaos until one drives in Rome at rush hour. It’s beautiful and frightening in equal measures.
I never knew a bus in Italy could be so agile in that much traffic and chaos. The mixed emotions I felt are impossible to put into words.
It may be Ben-Huresque.