Agreed.
The other thing I think they need to do is remove kart statistics. Have all the awesome looking carts & such, but keep the stats based on the character's weight class, essentially like SMK & MK64.
Also, as an added bonus, add in the same level of customization that ModNation Racers has. ModNation Racers' customization is excellent, both in terms of karts & tracks. There's NO reason why Mario Kart can't do the same thing and make it even better, due to having awesome Mario things, like pipes & rainbows and all that awesome Mario stuff!
That.......could be interesting. It would be fun, but I don't think they can do it for racing, because it would probably lead to unbalancing issues again. However, for Battle Mode, that could lead to some fun & silly battles. An ALL BANANA PEEL battle mode could be a lot of fun.
Those are interesting ideas. I'd LOVE IT if there was a Mario Kart mode in which there were green shells ALL AROUND, bouncing around, completely unpredictable.
Also, don't you guys think that the tracks should have more Mario gimmicks? More pipes, more piranha plants all over, more traps and moving platforms, more constant dangers and rewards. Some tracks seem to be way too empty. I'm not saying to do this to all tracks, but have the game put you in constant danger in some of the tracks. And constant movement with other stuff.