When playing in multiplayer, sometimes I'll notice after a race when it shows points gained/lost, some players will have golden or silver steering wheel icons on their rows.
What do these icons mean?
Mario Kart 8 – What Do the Colored Steering Wheel Icons Signify in Multiplayer?
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Related Solutions
The stars allow you to save Highlight Reels as your favourites. You may then view these highlights in Mario Kart TV. Your favourites are available in the Favorites tab, by pressing R or ZR twice after opening MKTV. You may remove favourites from that tab by pressing -.
Generally speaking your speed on the ground will be faster than your speed in the air, and therefore you will want to get back on the ground as quickly as possible. In certain cases gliding will open up a strategic oppurtunity, such as reaching a new area, taking a shortcut, or giving a benefit applicable only to those who choose to stay in the air. For example near the end of the course Mount Wario, there is a gliding segment where several hoops can be found in the air (see figure 1), which grant a small boost of speed when flown through. In such cases your own judgement will need to be used to decide what is the best opportunity, by weighing both it's measure of benefits & risks.
Figure 1. Flying through these hoops will grant a small boost of speed.
However, if you choose your kart customizations correctly, you can gain an air speed that is equal, or nearly equal to your ground speed. If you can find a combination that provides such a kart then it would essentially be best to remain in the air, since you would not be losing any speed, and you could leave yourself open to new strategies.
I hope this helps! :)
Best Answer
Toomai and GnomeSlice are right. Those players are using the Wii-wheel.
I'm not sure how long you have to play with it in 8, but someone here said 50 races (You have to win 50 races, not just play 50 races). I'm pretty sure there are three in MKW (white, silver, gold) but I don't know about MK8. I haven't seen any players with a white wheel online yet. I'm pretty sure the icon only shows up when you're currently using tilt controls.
In any case... White players (if they exist in 8) are playing with the wheel but don't have any achievements with it. Silver players have reached the first benchmark (if the cap for gold is 50, this one might be 25 races) and the gold players have reached the final benchmark, if the 50 races is to be believed.
I noticed when I was looking for the number of races you have to win to get the wheel that sometimes people say you have to beat all the ghost data in the time trials for the golden wheel-- That process unlocks the gold tires for cart customization. But the way it's shown in cart customization makes it look like a golden wheel. Just in case you go elsewhere and see someone saying the golden wheel is from the time trials, this is what they're talking about.