Vail Christian High School is educating students about the dangers of texting while driving. Students hold the motion sensitive wheel in one hand, and a cell phone in the other. It’s unclear if they are required to drive as Toad, Mario, or anyone else. But were they sorry when they ended up getting hit by a turtle shell? Did they learn not to text while driving?

Apparently some did. One player said, “I ran into a lot of things and it was very stressful,” Which is interesting, because how stressful can texting and Mario Kart really be? Still, I’m sure it drives the point home to these kids.

Why be bored at work, when you can build your own version of Mario Kart? Made using bits and pieces that you have around your desk already. Donald Kenny created this awesome little Mario sculpture. It’s right up there with the Starship Enterprise built from office supplies.

It’s made using coins, binder clips, wire, and other found office supplies. Have your buddies build some others, like Bowser, Koopa and Toad. Plus create some small turtle shells and bananas and soon you will be racing in the break room.

The Mario Kart Pullback toys were cool, so was the giant r/c Mario Kart racer, but this set of Mini Mario Kart rc cars from Brando gets it right. Each car is rechargeable and about the size of the iPod shuffle. Each comes with a 6-direction IR controller and shell and banana accessories. That’s what I’m talking about. You need accessories to really play Mario Kart outside of the Wii. They are available in Mario, Luigi, Koopa and Yoshi. Available for $24 each. Finally you can have real life Mario races.

I haven’t picked up my copy of Mario Kart yet, but I imagine this new Wii wheel from Blazepro will make it a more realistic and far cooler experience. It’s got to be better then that rinky-dink wheel they are packaging with the game.

This new wheel promises better driving accuracy. The base can be attached to any desktop for more stability, too. If you still like playing it the other way, you can detach the wheel for more freedom. Available for only $5.87.

The same dirty Wii syndrome that affected Super Smash Bros is now coming to the forefront again with the launch of Mario Kart. You may or may not be able to get the game to play, depending on how filthy your Wii is. The disc reading laser is having a hard time cutting through the dirt, due to the fact that it’s a double-layer disc with a large memory capacity. Those who may be heavy smokers have a layer of nicotine on the lens, for instance.

Reports of the launch of Mario Kart Wii this month in Japan show that the game is having this same problem just months after Smash Bros. Nintendo will clean it for you, but that means you’ll have to be without it for awhile and frankly that sucks. Keep your Wii clean. A clean Wii is a happy Wii people.

Nintendo peripherals don’t just grow on digital trees. Real live people have to design them. Whether it’s the Zapper or the steering wheel, a ton of research and thought goes into them. During the design process for the wheel, Nintendo studied steering wheels from many go karts to make sure they got things just right.

They tried roughly 30 designs before they got it the way they wanted. I personally can’t wait to play some Mario Kart and if I know Nintendo, their final wheel may not look as cool as some of the ones above, but it should perform very nicely.

Mario Kart has not yet been released, but already there is at least one alternative that’s better then the steering wheel that comes with the game. Thrustmaster has apparently branched out from the joystick business and they are now selling the T-GoKart NW steering wheel accessory for the Wii.

First, it looks much cooler then the original that comes with Mario Kart. Plus, the T-GoKart has a rubber grip and strategically positions the Wiimote so that you can access the buttons easily while your hands are at the ‘10 and 2′ positions. It also has holes on both sides so you can use the Wiimote for pointing while it’s in the wheel or for connecting the Nunchuck controller when needed. You can get it in April for about $10. Let’s-a-go!

You can never have too much Mario. Or Bowser. Or Donkey Kong. Maybe Peach, her whiny voice can grate on the nerves. The point is, you can never have too much Mario Kart. Now, thanks to Anytoys, you have a whole selection of Mario Kart Pull Backs featuring Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Peach, Wario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong.

Just pull them back and forth and they’ll take off on their own. These are straight from Japan, and each pack costs $11.60 and comes with 3 random characters. You better go prepare for your races. You’ll probably want to buy a bunch of baby turtles so you can sling shells at each other. Some will have to be painted red of course. Then you’ll want to gather some banana peels, have at least a quart of oil ready for those oil slicks too. However, if you are going to go for that kind of authenticity, I would suggest playing outside.

If you’re a huge fan of Mario,(who’s not?) you’ll want to put away your Mario Kart slot car set and order yourself this giant Mario Kart racer pronto. It’s yet another way to bring the game into real-space and bring back memories of the N64. Mario and his Kart are over 12″ long and feature various sound effects from the game. Which is probably a good thing, since your cat will have some warning as Mario speeds down your hallway. You wouldn’t want Mario to run over Fluffy and spin out like he hit a banana peel.

Comes with a Nintendo GameCube style controller with five functions: Right, Left, Forward, Reverse and Turbo. Runs on 1 9V Battery and 8 AA Batteries. Check out a somewhat dorky video of it in action here. You can buy one online for $49.99.

Now you can play Mario Kart in the real world away from your screen and in slot car form. The set includes 2 cars, a transformer, straights, curves, narrowing set, 2 hand controllers, guardrails and spare contact brushes, guide keels plus a track link.

Race Mario’s B-Dasher against Wario’s Brute on twenty feet of track. This should be a fun way to enjoy the classic game in a whole different way. I can only assume that more cars are forthcoming, since racing Mario against Wario could get boring after awhile. Some of us prefer Toad’s well balanced ride. This is a great fun concept. I’m surprised it’s taken them this long to bring it to market.

What true Nintendo fan’s room would be complete without a Mario Kart clock radio at their bedside
? This little rendition of Mario racing is his go-cart is an actual working alarm clock with an LED display across the front.

It comes complete with an AM/FM radio which allows you to wake up to the radio or a buzzer, and of course Mario’s smiling face, each day.

Unfortunately this item is currently sold out, but the novelty site selling the clock radio states that its looking for more sources, so if you find one somewhere let us (and them) know.

Nintendo Mario Kart Clock radio via NerdApproved