The Karters 2: Turbo Charged news & patch notes

Hey everyone,

We wanted to share a quick update regarding how we’ll be delivering updates moving forward.

Up until now, we’ve been posting weekly updates on Steam and we want still keep you regularly updated on what we’re working on.

However, when it comes to actual game updates, we want to shift our focus.

What’s changing?

Instead of releasing smaller updates every week, we will now aim for larger, more meaningful updates released roughly every 6–8 weeks.

In between those, you can expect:

• Posts about progress and upcoming features

• Smaller patches if something important needs fixing or improving

Why this change?

We want to make sure we have enough time to properly test, polish, and improve each update before release.

Our goal is to keep the same development pace, but also make sure the game feels more stable and refined with every update.

This change was also strongly suggested by the community, and we completely agree with the direction.

Shoutout

Huge shoutout to Vipek, who has been doing an incredible job keeping up the development pace and making all of this possible 👏

And big thanks to Kami and our amazing community, who supported us, shared feedback, and helped us through that intense update schedule ❤️

First Big Update (2nd Half of May)

The first update under this approach is already in progress and planned for the second half of May.

Here’s what we’re currently working on:

• Big performance improvements

• Steam Deck 60 FPS support

• Localization support (multiple languages)

• Improvements to online experience (including merging servers and creating tools to help group together in online match)

• DUO character support

• Plus as many important fixes and community-requested improvements as we can include

We’re actively gathering feedback and updating it on tk2.nolt.io.

This is a big update for us and we’re doing our best to deliver it in the best possible shape.

Beta Testing

If you’re interested in helping us test upcoming updates:

• Join our Discord: discord.gg/thekarters

• Check the devlog channel for information

• You can also reach out to our community manager Kami

We’re trying to keep the beta group manageable, so if you’re really interested in testing and helping us improve the game, feel free to jump in.

Thanks for your support, and we’ll keep you updated on what we’re working on.

See you in the next update!

🧩 New Weapon Icons

Weapon icons have received a visual upgrade with a more detailed and readable design.

• Each icon now clearly shows the weapon itself

• New decorative borders indicate the weapon type

  • Example: shield icon for defensive items

🎯 Weapons Playground Tasks

We’ve added 23 new weapon tasks designed to help you better understand not just the basics, but also more advanced techniques.

Each challenge now includes a helpful tip, so you can learn how to use every item effectively.

Some examples include:

• Destroying a Portal Gun effect using the Hammer

• Dashing through closed gates with Teleport Dash

• Using Healbot to survive a killing blow

This is part of our ongoing goal to make items easier to learn and master.

Additional improvements:

• New challenge completion animation

• Dynamic key binding updates when switching between keyboard and controller during the tutorial

• Adjusted Tank behavior in Weapons Playground to match race behavior

• Fixed incorrect descriptions in the wiki

🔊 Audio Adjustments

We’ve continued refining the game’s audio balance to improve clarity and reduce noise.

Changes include:

• Routed Item Box Breaking SFX to the SFX bus

• Routed Item Box Roulette SFX to the SFX bus

• Routed Checkpoint Gate SFX to the SFX bus

• Reduced overall loudness / noise

• Minor balancing tweaks

More audio polish is coming in future updates.

🛠️ In-Game Editors (Work in Progress)

We’ve officially started working on in-game editors for characters and tracks.

It’s still early in development, but this will be a big step forward and something we’re really excited about.

We’ll be sharing more details as development progresses - so stay tuned 👀

Hey everyone,

Sorry for missing last week’s update, we ran into some issues during release, but we’re back 🙂

Items

As you may know, we are working on item balance, improvements, and introducing new items. It’s a slower process because we want to get everything right, but we’re making solid progress week by week.

We also started thinking about how to make items more understandable for new players. That’s how the idea for special weapon challenges was born.

In this update, you can try a work-in-progress version of this feature:

• Available in the Challenges Menu (second challenge)

Our goal is to teach players how each item works through dedicated challenges. More tasks and improvements are coming soon.

We’ve also added:

• New missile indicators to make them more intuitive and easier to use

• New item icons (currently in development)

Fixes

• Fixed player top HUD hiding when the first player finishes the race

• Fixed Homing Missile scaling bug

Audio Balance

We’ve continued working on improving the game’s audio balance. There is still more to do, but we’ll keep refining it up to release, so you can expect ongoing improvements.

Duo Characters

I’m happy to say that Duo Character support is now complete (but this update release date is not yet confirmed).

There’s still some work left before we can talk about a release date, but this will be a big update.

Current work includes:

• Improving Blender modding tools for Duo Characters

• Tweaks for upcoming characters:

  • Matt & Max (Duo)

  • Zig, Zag, Zoom (Trio)

More information coming soon.

Performance and Steam Deck Update

We’re planning this as a separate major update, including:

• Localization

• Performance improvements

• Steam Deck UI improvements

Right now, our second programmer (Vipek) is focused on items, so it will take some more time before we return to this.

It’s also time to start working on a feature many of you are excited about.

Track Editor

Work on the in-game track editor has officially begun.

We already have a working development version, and now we’re focusing on creating intuitive in-game tools for building tracks.

We plan to develop this feature together with the community, so stay tuned for more updates.

Thanks everyone!

Hey everyone,

As we mentioned in our previous update, one of our current focuses is improving item upgrades, balancing existing items, and introducing new ones. We're also working on improving items feedback to make things clearer.

New: Bottom HUD Weapon Threat Indicators

We've added threat indicator icons that appear at the bottom of your screen whenever an enemy behind you is aiming at you with a weapon. This should give you a quick heads-up before the attack lands.

The icons appear on the left or right side depending on where the threat is coming from, and they include visual cues to show how immediate the danger is.

Other Changes

• Added controller vibration feedback for weapons damage

• Fixed a missing preset repair icon

Coming Soon

• New weapon icons

• More visual cues and feedbacks

Performance Progress

We've also managed to bake shadows across all scenes, which brings us much closer to the upcoming performance update.

More improvements are on the way - stay tuned!

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay with this update, and thanks for your patience!

🛠 Fixes

Presets & Mods

• Added a repair popup when selecting a preset with missing mod items, allowing you to quickly fix the preset.

• Fixed an issue where the vanilla version appeared instead of the modded version in preset customization and lobby screens.

UI

• Fixed an issue where the buy item dialog did not appear when selecting a preset in online mode.

Gameplay

• Fixed mask not working on minimap checkpoints.

• Fixed an issue where players could trigger Restart or Continue while in Photo Mode.

Performance Optimizations

We’re almost at the finish line with performance improvements. We’re currently optimizing the last race tracks, and once that’s complete we’ll move into a polish phase. There is a big chance for this update to land by the end of the month :)

🚧 What We're Working On

• Duo character support is still in development.

• We’ve started working on item improvements, including:

  • balance

  • fixes and improvements

  • potential new items in future updates.

More updates coming soon!

Hello everyone,

This week brings a feature many of you have been asking for!

🧪 New Experimental Feature: Automatic Downloading of Missing Preset Elements

We’ve added a new option that automatically downloads missing preset elements when you join a lobby.

How it works: If this option is enabled, the game will automatically detect any missing mods after you join a lobby. Other players’ presets will then be downloaded and refreshed without requiring manual action.

Unlike background track downloads, this process runs automatically, and you can start racing even if all presets haven’t finished downloading yet.

Important: As with track downloading, this feature is experimental and may contain bugs. We’d really appreciate your help testing it — please share your feedback with us!

🛠️ Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed Q/E buttons changing categories in the clan screen during rename

• Fixed the Clan Game option not being blocked when a player is not in a clan

  • The option is now available only if all players in the lobby are in the clan

• Added support for joining Clan Games via lobby code

  • Previously, the game did not verify whether the player was joining a clan room or was already in a clan

• Fixed the track screen showing incorrect maps when coming from TOTD

• Fixed incorrect back button behavior when editing stickers

• Added “STICKER SETTINGS” label when editing sticker settings

• Fixed incorrect option text in the confirm/cancel dialog

• Fixed incorrect behavior of the WR Hunt Play Now button

• Adjusted thumbnail generation logic

Thanks for your continued support ❤️

Hello everyone,

Thanks for your patience, this week’s update is a bit shorter than usual because both developers were unfortunately sick last week.

Even so, we managed to fix and improve a number of things:

Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed an issue where the Time Trial ghost could incorrectly appear during Race mode after switching game modes in an online lobby.

• Fixed an issue where the Local Record ghost visuals (character, kart, wheels, stickers) would not update after beating your personal best. The ghost time updated correctly, but the appearance stayed from the previous record. The ghost now fully reflects your setup at the time the PB was set.

• Respawn points now update correctly while the player is bunny hopping.

• Fixed an edge case where players could not exit the Lobby Players tab window.

• Fixed an issue where the AI icon did not change when using the Random Preset action.

• Fixed incorrect modded CPU icons appearing on the dynamic map, kill info, and score list.

DUO Character Support - First Progress

In case you missed it, we’ve started working on DUO character support and have already shared a first look at the development progress.

You can check it out here in our post on X.

https://x.com/TheKarters2/status/2022267921997640001

Thanks everyone!

🚨 Lobby Reconnect System + Ghost Improvements Update 🚨

We’ve just rolled out a new update focused on multiplayer stability, ghost system improvements, and another batch of overall quality-of-life fixes :)

🔌 Lobby Reconnect System (NEW)

We’ve added a reconnect feature to help keep you in the online lobby.

If your connection drops, you’ll now have a 30-second window to rejoin the lobby instead of being kicked immediately. Other players will also see when someone is reconnecting, allowing them to wait or start the match.

👻 Major Ghost Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed ghost players appearing in Race mode after playing Time Trial on the same track, which could prevent item pickups from working.

• Personal Record ghosts now load directly from your local save instead of unnecessarily downloading from the server.

• Personal Record ghosts now work offline, no more leaderboard error when you already have a saved record.

• Player input is now fully locked during ghost downloads to prevent track selection errors.

• Custom character particles are now properly hidden on ghost karts while standard effects remain visible.

• Fixed ghost players briefly appearing at the start of Grand Prix Time Trial races.

• Ghost gameplay settings now only appear in Single Player Time Trial.

• Fixed ghost voice lines playing in non-Time Trial modes after leaving Time Trial.

• Ghost download prompts now appear immediately when required.

🏁 Gameplay & Balance

• Increased the cooldown to prevent rapid stacking of boosts from adjacent pads.

• Reduced boost pad voice-over delay from 10 seconds to 3 seconds at race start.

🧠 UI & Mode Fixes

• AI opponents are now correctly disabled in Duo Time Trial mode.

• Added missing screen titles for Credits, Guide, Duels, Clans, Mods, and Daily Hub.

As always, thank you for playing, and we’ll see you on the track! 🏎️💨

New Experimental Feature: Automatic Track Downloads in Lobby (Friend Lobbies Only)

We've added a new experimental feature that allows automatic downloading of missing tracks while in the multiplayer lobby!

How it works:

When anyone in the lobby has this feature enabled in their settings, the lobby owner will see a "PREPARE" button. Clicking this button starts the download phase - players who are missing the selected track and have auto-download enabled will automatically start downloading it in the background.

During the download phase:

- You'll see a download progress indicator showing how many tracks are downloading and the current progress

- All players can see who's still downloading

- After 60 seconds, the owner can click "START" to begin the race

- Once all downloads complete, the countdown to start the match begins automatically

- If someone doesn't finish downloading in time, their mods will continue downloading in the background and they'll join the race with a delay

Settings:

- Enable/Disable automatic track downloads in lobbies

- Choose whether to keep downloaded tracks or mark them for deletion after leaving the lobby (they will be removed on next game launch - so if you're moving between lobbies, you won't have to re-download everything)

Important Notice:

This feature is experimental! We're aware there's still room for improvement and some edge cases may not work perfectly. We're releasing it to gather feedback and improve it based on your real-world experience.

- Fixed lobby ownership transfer

- Changed mod loading behavior - private, friends-only, and unlisted mods are now excluded from loading and can no longer be used in the game. We're excluding them because players who didn't have access to these mods in online lobbies couldn't download them. If you want to use your private mod, you must set it to public on Steam Workshop first edit

There are some unexpected issues related to mods with this recent build. We will look into it and make it live again as soon as possible. Until then we had to revert this build to previous one. Sorry for the trouble!

Hey everyone!

This week, we’ve rolled out a fresh batch of fixes and improvements

Gameplay & Quality of Life:

• Added controller vibration on/off option

• Added a confirmation popup when leaving a lobby

• Fixed an issue where TOTD didn’t load track images and leaderboards correctly

• Fixed incorrect player icons on the dynamic minimap

• Fixed several Grand Prix bugs in the online lobby

• Fixed an issue where the ROUNDS arrow wasn’t visible when entering the Grand Prix lobby for the first time

• Further respawn system improvements

Audio Settings Enhancements:

• Added separate Local Player VO and Opponent VO volume sliders

• Removed the old combined “Voice Over” slider and replaced it with the new options

• Implemented Custom Music Volume Normalization (boosts quieter tracks while keeping louder tracks in check)

ps.

Sorry that updates haven’t been coming over the weekends, we’re working on improving that so you get them more on time ːsteamthumbsupː

Hello everyone,

This week’s update brings a lot of new fixes and improvements. Sorry for not releasing it during the weekend, but sometimes we encounter unexpected issues, and we don’t want to release a build without properly fixing them.

Please make sure you are running version v0.1.20.3.

Stutter Fix (not confirmed yet)

We saw reports on Steam Discussions and Discord that since v0.1.19, the game was stuttering from time to time during races.

We believe we have found the issue that was causing this during races and other modes. (To our knowledge, Time Trials should not have any freezes during gameplay.)

We are not 100% sure that this fixes the issue for everyone, so if you had this problem before, please let us know in the comments. Make sure you are using v0.1.20.3 when testing.

Mods

• Fixed hot reload 1-second delay

• Fixed config generation stuck bug

Presets

• Fixed vanilla version of new presets not being randomized

• Added AI preset syncing for online

  • From now on, everyone in the lobby will see the same AI presets

  • Notice: If you don’t have the required mods, the game will show the vanilla preset

  • Vanilla versions of presets may still show the same character for other players if they were created before this fix (unless you already customized them yourself)

  • This has now been fixed for new presets, but existing vanilla presets must be manually edited if you want to correct them

• Fixed incorrect preset trail display and rendering on characters without trails

Screenshot Feature

• Heavily optimized

• Should no longer crash, even on low-end devices

Map Loading Error Dialog

• Implemented a new map loading error dialog

• The game will now show which map caused the issue

• This allows you to:

  • Change the map in offline mode

  • Re-enter the lobby in online mode

Duels Adjustments

• Community-voted maps are now included in the Duels map pool

“Missing Mod” Dialog

• Added a new “Download All” option

Lobby Performance

• Optimized lobby performance

• The lobby should now run faster, especially on low-end devices

Keyboard

• Replaced the old full keyboard design with a new one in the clan rename screen

• Visually adjusted the numeric keyboard

• Added a Backspace button

• Added keyboard support to the numeric keyboard

Gameplay-Framerate-Dependent Fixes

• Fixed bounce ground height being inconsistent at different framerates

• Fixed continuous boost ground stacking incorrectly (was giving ~15% more speed than intended)

• Fixed teleporter arc height being inconsistent at different framerates

• Fixed respawn drone timing being framerate-dependent

AI Fixes

• AI no longer fights movement during ziplines and bezier teleporters

• AI inputs are now properly disabled during all teleport types

• Added post-teleport stabilization to prevent backward snapping

Online & Multiplayer (Last Week Hotfix)

• Fixed spectators getting softlocked after online races → They now properly return to the lobby with other players

• Fixed the game not auto-exiting to the menu when errors occur in online rooms

Thanks everyone!

Hello everyone,

2026 is officially here, and this is the year we’re pushing The Karters 2 toward Full Release on PC and Consoles! 🎉

Our top priority right now is bug fixing and performance improvements to finally address the most important issues raised by the community. As you can see in this devlog, we’ve already made strong progress to kick off the year on the right foot.

Team

At the moment, there are two programmers actively working on the game:

• Sebastian (me)

• Vipek (Jakub)

On top of that,

• Kami (our Community Manager)

Kami has been a massive help with testing, bug fixing, and general improvements.

Thanks to this teamwork, we’re getting closer to the point where we can shift more focus toward new and exciting features, such as Tournaments and other long-awaited additions.

We’re also happy to share that

• Basia (co-director)

Is partially back on the project and is currently supporting the team with organization-focused tasks, helping us stay aligned and efficient as we move toward Full Release.

On the art side:

• Mariusz (3D Artist)

• Mortus (Animator)

• Matt ( 2D / UI)

At the moment, they are waiting for us (programmers) to finish several key programming tasks so their next round of content can be integrated smoothly.

Upcoming Priorities

Our main development focus for the near future includes:

• Game bug fixes & general improvements

• Performance optimization (this may result in a dedicated performance mode)

• Localization & Demo support (PC & Consoles)

• Online server merging & improvements

While Vipek and Kami continue working on fixes and stability, I’m diving deeper into performance rework, and soon after, into two long-awaited features:

• In-game Track Editor

• Duo Characters support

Looking Ahead to 2026 🚀

Our goal for 2026 is ambitious but exciting:

• Full Release on PC

• Simultaneous Console Release

• Online Cross-Play

• In-Game Track Editor

There’s a lot to look forward to!

Beyond the track editor, I’m also exploring the possibility of:

• In-game Character & Vehicle Editor

• Community-made Story Mode

It’s still too early to confirm these features, but I am actively looking into what’s possible. Stay tuned for future updates!

About Player Numbers & the Future

I know seeing low CCU or online player counts can sometimes feel discouraging. However, I want to be very clear: 👉 The prime time of The Karters 2 is still ahead of us.

Right now, we’re using this time to polish, optimize, and improve the game as much as possible. Once we’re ready, we plan to make a big push with major updates aimed at bringing many more players into the game. A Demo is one of the ideas we’re considering - and there’s more planned beyond that.

I truly appreciate every single player who is playing right now, leaving reviews, reporting bugs, and helping shape the game. I want to assure you that 2026 is the year we aim for much higher player peaks, and I’m confident we can get there together. ❤️

Week #19 Patch Notes

Below are the patch notes for the latest build. Apologies for the delay, while improving mod loading, we ran into several issues that needed to be resolved before releasing the update.

The next update will arrive as usual during the upcoming weekend.

Mods Loading Improvements

• Added mods loading progress UI to the Main Menu

• Improved overall mod loading stability

• Mods loading should no longer cause big in-game stuttering

Next Best Ghost Fixes

• Ghost visuals now update correctly when beating a ghost and downloading the next best ghost in Time Trial

• Previously, replay data updated correctly, but kart/character visuals did not

AI Lap Counting Fix

• Fixed AI laps not counting on certain tracks with teleporters

• AI now properly finishes races, regardless of teleporter usage

Replay Mode Improvements

• All game modes now support Replay Mode, including Online Multiplayer

• Replays store presets for all 8 players for accurate race recreation

• Dynamic Behind is now the default replay camera

• Fixed replay issues with teleporters / warps

• Replay VO now behaves correctly (same rules as Time Trial ghosts)

• Replay Mode now properly supports 1, 3, 5, and 7 laps

Leaderboard & Gallery Replays

• Leaderboard replays now work correctly on tracks with ziplines

• Fixed reserve meter showing incorrect values during/after ziplines

Online Spectator Mode Fixes

• Fixed spectator camera being stuck at origin

• Fixed spectators being incorrectly kicked to the lobby during online matches

Mini-Turbo Boost Pad Fix

• Performing a mini-turbo on a boost pad no longer overrides the pad boost

• Boosts now stack correctly

Sorting & Navigation Polish

• Various improvements to main menu navigation and UI flow

Lobby Improvements

• Clan leader & wanted team now auto-hide when not on READY or PLAYERS tabs

• Switch Team button is now unique per local co-op player

• Single-member lobbies can no longer disable AI in Road Breaker

• Netcode optimizations in several areas

• Fixed missing wanted team color for first player

• Fixed UI clipping in options toolbar

• Fixed team desync issues after room leader changes

• Fixed missing tracks popup not appearing

• Fixed missing mod character icons preventing AI from appearing

Daily Hub (TOTD)

• Limited to the last 20 days

• Improved responsiveness when navigating between days

Other Fixes

• Renamed “AI” to “CPU” during races

• Fixed missing CPU icons in the in-game player list

• Fixed players not displaying correctly in the in-game player list

Thanks again to our amazing community for your patience, feedback, and support!

Sebastian

Hello everyone!

🎤 Voice-Over for All Racers — FIXED!

Last week we introduced voice-over (VO) for all players during races… and unfortunately had to roll it back shortly after 😞

The issue was that modded characters’ audio settings weren’t updating correctly, and we spent several days trying to solve it without requiring modders to update their existing mods.

I’m happy to say we’ve successfully fixed the problem and no changes are required to existing mods, and the feature is now fully working in this build! 🎉

Huge thanks to @Kami, our community manager, who helped fine-tune this feature and did a lot of testing to make sure everything works as expected.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 More Lobby Options

This build includes many lobby improvements, plus a super cool new feature that lets you:

• View other players’ Steam profiles

• Send and receive friend requests directly inside the lobby!

📋 Full Changelog

(Vipek — our second programmer - is on fire and doing amazing work!)

NEW LOBBY ACTIONS

• Built-in Send / Accept / Decline Friend Requests Manage friend requests directly through the in-game system.

• Randomize Customization Button Generate a fully random customization preset.

• Copy and Save Preset Copy a preset from another player or CPU and save it to your own presets.

LOBBY ACTION NOTIFICATIONS

• Easily identify pending actions for specific players (such as friend requests). Now you can see small notification icon next to the player.

OTHER

• Added mod loading percentage text to group-related loading screens.

• Added a lobby owner icon.

• Removed numbering for CPUs in offline lobbies (now shown simply as CPU).

• Renamed AI to CPU in online lobbies.

• Disabled actions for disabled or unoccupied slots.

• Sent actions no longer disappear, text now changes from “Send Friend Request” to “Sent Friend Request.”

• Actions now use different colors based on their state.

• Friend accept and decline actions are now prioritized and shown before other actions.

FIXED

• Fixed the voting map background in online rooms.

• Fixed the CPU icon not refreshing when using Random Preset or Set Preset.

• Fixed an incorrect track group being shown on first entry (hopefully 😄).

🎄 Christmas Time!

We’re heading into the Christmas and New Year period, so update timing may vary, but you can definitely expect at least one more update before the end of the year / during Christmas 🎁

Thanks everyone!

Hello everyone!

This week’s update brings something many of you have been asking for, and we’re excited to finally share it.

As always, let us know what you think in the comments, and if you’re enjoying the game, we’d really appreciate a Steam review! ❤️

🚀Lobby Player Management & CPU Preset Selection

This feature has been requested many times, and we’re happy to announce that you can now select a customization preset for CPU racers in your lobby.

You can now assign any preset you’ve already created to CPU racers, and yes, you can do that for each CPU!

How it works

In the lobby, you’ll find a new PLAYERS tab. From there, you can:

• Navigate between player slots

• Press Enter to open the ≡ menu

• Manage presets (SP), roles, and social options for each player (Online)

  Single-Player Options

• Select Customization Preset for each player

• ... or use Random Preset to change the CPU without picking

  Online Options

• Kick Player

• Promote to Leader

• Invite friends to your lobby

• View Steam profiles

• Send, accept, or decline friend requests

The idea to add the ≡ menu per player came from Vipek, our second gameplay programmer, big props to him for such a greta idea! 👏

🎙️ Voice Overs for ALL Racers!

Until now, you could only hear your own character during races. That changes with this update!

You can now hear every racer’s voice lines during the race. This was a highly anticipated feature, and honestly, it adds more life and action than we imagined.

⚠️ This is the first pass of the system. Next week, we’ll be adding audio settings that will let you tweak and customize this feature further.

🛠️ Detailed Changelog

Lobby Player Actions (NEW)

A new PLAYERS tab has been added to the lobby, providing quick access to player management and social features. Clicking any player slot opens a contextual menu with available actions.

MANAGEMENT

• Choose Preset – Assign a specific preset to any player slot

  • AI slots: Room leader only

  • Co-op slots: First local player

• Randomize Preset – Randomly assign a preset to any player slot

• Kick Player – Remove a player from the lobby (room leader only)

• Promote to Leader – Transfer lobby ownership to another player

SOCIAL

• Invite Friends to Lobby – Invite Steam friends directly via the Steam overlay

• View Steam Profile – Open a player’s Steam profile

• Send Friend Request – Send a Steam friend request

• Accept Friend Request – Accept incoming Steam friend requests

• Decline Friend Request – Decline incoming Steam friend requests

Local Co-op Lobby Improvements

• Track and Customize screens now fully support local co-op

• Sorting and searching is now independent per player

• Each player slot now has its own unique buttons

Other Changes & Fixes

• Voting has been disabled in local games

• Fixed soft mask issues for preset previews in the lobby

• Fixed lobby arrows not displaying correctly on first entry

• Fixed incorrect track group shown on first entry

• Fixed an exploit in Duo Time Trial that allowed lap count changes in the lobby

❤️ Thank You!

Thanks again for all your continued support, it truly means a lot to us.

We’ll see you next week with another update! ⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTICE – VOICE OVERS FOR ALL RACERS FEATURE IS TEMPORARILY DISABLED ⚠️

We have discovered an unexpected issue where, if at least one modded character is present in the lobby, players will hear voice overs from all racers regardless of distance. Due to this bug, the racer voice over playback feature has been temporarily disabled.

We are actively investigating the issue and will bring the feature back as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Hello Everyone! This week update we focused on improving the lobby experience, UI behavior, and overall polish. Here’s what’s new:

✅ Added

• Added track groups to the lobby.

• Added customization presets groups to the lobby.

• Added confirmation for reordering via Select (controller) or T (keyboard) - you can now enter and exit this state with a single button.

❌ Removed

• Removed automatic map selection on hover when Cup Mode is off; selections must now be confirmed manually.

• Removed automatic map selection after sorting in the lobby; it now moves to the first track instead.

🎨 Adjusted

• Improved lighting in lobby preset previews.

• Updated preset preview sizes in the lobby.

• Refined soft masks for lobby previews.

• Adjusted track screen behavior when returning from the lobby with a different game mode than when it was entered.

🛠 Fixed

• Fixed UI becoming unresponsive when clicking two arrows at once during group reordering.

• Fixed incorrect page state when re-entering group tracks.

• Fixed an incorrect track screen state when navigating from the TOTD screen.

• Fixed confirm issues after dialog popups in the lobby.

• Fixed incorrect preset previews in the CUSTOMIZE tab and/or lobby after entering via COMPLETE.

• Fixed incorrect rendering of previews with trails on wheels.

• Fixed an issue where leaving preset customization during sticker editing prevented rotation.

⚠️ Known Issues

• Poiyomi shaders currently display black rectangles in preset previews.

Thanks for playing, and we’ll see you on the track!

Hey everyone,

This week’s update is a smaller one, focused mainly on quality-of-life improvements. While the changes may be subtle, they’re all things we believe meaningfully improve the overall experience. We hope you enjoy them!

New Lighting for In-Menu Kart & Character

We’ve wanted to refresh the lighting for your kart and character preview in the Main Menu for quite a while. This week, it finally landed! The new, more realistic lighting gives your setup a much nicer presentation, and we’re pretty happy with how it turned out.

Reordering Built-In Groups

Last week we introduced the ability to reorder your custom race track groups in the Main Menu. This week, we’ve expanded that feature to built-in groups as well! Now you can fully customize the order of all your groups and organize your favorite tracks exactly how you like.

Other Improvements

• Adjusted “Create New” group behavior - it now automatically enters edit mode

• Adjusted “Customize” random button - it now automatically approves the selected item

• Updated preset rotation - it now rotates at a constant speed

• Fixed preset rotation for presets that include hidden elements

• Added exhaust particles to karts in preset customization

• Updated to latest Unity version

Extra Improvements

• Added a dialog that allows you to disable Time Trial leaderboard record uploads when a race track is detected as Work in Progress by the track creator (via the publish directory)

• Duels - Added support for custom tracks, including a custom track pop-up dialog. This feature still needs more testing, but you should now be able to play against other players on custom tracks

🐞 Known Issues

• Character and wheel positions in the Main Menu vehicle preview may appear slightly offset

If you have feedback or run into any issues, let us know! Thanks for playing! 🎉

Hello everyone,

This week’s update brings several highly requested features related to presets and race track groups, along with a set of important fixes reported by the community :)

Groups & Group Item Reordering

You can now reorder custom groups and also reorder the items inside them. This makes it easier to organize everything exactly the way you want. Please note that built-in groups cannot be reordered.

This feature was requested by community, and we hope you'll like it

We are aware of a few minor dialog issues related to groups. These will be fixed next week.

Critical Fixes

• 1-Lap Time Trial exploit fixed. Players were previously able to start 1-lap Time Trials and easily achieve world-record times. This is now prevented.

• Invalid track and mode combinations fixed. It is no longer possible to start unsupported combinations such as playing Road Breaker on normal race tracks.

• AI tanks removed. AI can no longer use Tanks. Tanks created balance issues and affected difficulty settings. Humans can draw a Tank , but AI cannot.

🚗 Kart Menu Rotation Preview

You can now rotate your kart in the menu using the A and D keys or the controller’s right stick. We also plan to improve character and kart lighting in the menus in a future update.

Other Improvements

• Simplified text for group action buttons.

• Quick dialogs can now be closed using ESC or the controller’s B button.

• The preset tab now keeps its state and does not reset when returning from a race.

Fixed

• Incorrect preset character selection after switching from PRESETS to CUSTOMIZE.

• Incorrect preset previews appearing after switching from PRESETS to CUSTOMIZE.

• After using Save as Preset, the CHARACTERS section was selected by mistake and required extra input to reach the Karts section.

• The game resetting to the first track in a group after returning from the leaderboard screen.

• A blocker that prevented exiting preset customization.

• Occasional incorrect character tooltips.

🌍 Localization Support Coming Soon

We know that many of you are waiting for localization. Our goal is to have it ready by the end of December.

❤️ Thank You

Thank you for your continued support. Before the end of the year we are focusing on fixing critical issues and improving overall user experience.

With the new year we plan to shift toward bigger and more exciting features including new game modes duo characters, and of course the in-game track editor

We are happy to announce that official Soundtrack for The Karters 2: Turbo Charged is officially LIVE on Steam!

Turn up the volume and keep the race going off the track! The soundtrack is full of fast, punchy beats and high-energy tunes that not only fuel the thrill of racing, but also bring back that child-like joy and sense of nostalgia that make kart games so special.

🎧 What’s included:

• All of the music from the game, composed by Eduard Perelyhin.

• High-quality audio pack (~2.1 GB optional)

• Two full discs worth of tracks ( featuring 23 core tracks and 25 bonus alternate versions) - from the “Menu Screen” to “Don't Look Downtown”, plus alternate versions. OST Steam Store

💲 Price: The soundtrack is available for $4.99 USD.

🎼 Want to Support the Composer?

If you’ve enjoyed the music in The Karters 2, grabbing the OST is a great way to support Eduard Perelyhin, the composer behind every track

Thanks for your support and for being part of this ride. See you on the track, and now in the playlist too! 🎮🎶

Hey everyone!

This week brings a fresh round of improvements and a brand-new UX/UI feature that moves the game one step closer to full release.

Quick Customization Window

After picking a race track, you'll now see a new customization window, designed to make your setup process faster and more familiar.

• Quickly choose your character, vehicle, and wheels with ease.

• Try the randomizer option to instantly mix and match for a new look.

• The classic 5x5 grid view is still available if you prefer the old way.

• Use your saved presets or even create a new one instantly based on your current setup.

Other Imrovements

• Added support for AZERTY keyboard layout (toggle with F1 or a button).

• Fixed inverted L1/R1 controls in preset groups.

• Fixed erratic behavior with the last preset on each page.

• Fixed issues when re-entering the stickers menu.

• Fixed visual bug where group preset trails overlapped UI elements.

• Adjusted sorting and selection behavior in the presets view.

• Tweaked preset editing so that if changes aren’t applied, the selection now stays on the last hovered item instead of jumping to the applied one.

This new UI was made by Vipek, our second programmer, he’s doing an incredible job! (Alongside Sebastian, and Marcin - who’s focused on console ports)

Tank Improvements

Last week we introduced a new tank path-following system.

This week Key tank updates:

• We've made it more stable, on tracks with teleporters or complex paths.

• Tanks can now be used in single-player races (up to 2 tanks for a player per race).

• Extra safety check to ensure, that you can’t draw a tank while in 1st or 2nd place.

• The homing missile now targets players with Tesla fields and Tanks (still under testing).

Next week, we’ll work on making tank movement even smoother

Console Progress

We’re making steady progress on the console versions of the game!

The game is already running with online, leaderboards, and ghost support on:

• PlayStation 5

• Xbox Series X|S

• Nintendo Switch

We’ve still got lots of optimization ahead, but the good news is: these improvements will also boost performance on older PCs!

💛 Thanks for Your Support!

Thanks for being with us on this journey!

See you next week!

Hey everyone!

A little later than usual (sorry the update didn’t land over the weekend!), but here it is - Weekly Update #12 😊

Character Preset Groups!

Last week, we introduced groups for race tracks. This time, we’re excited to announce that you can now create groups for character presets!

This new quality-of-life feature makes organizing and playing with your favorite presets even easier and more fun!

Sneak Peek: "Customize" Tab Coming Soon!

Stay tuned for next week’s update, where we’ll unlock an all-new tab called "Customize". It’ll let you play without being forced to use presets at all :)

Tank Improvements

This has been one of the top community requests - the tank had lots of issues, especially on custom tracks. It could get stuck, behave oddly, or even bounce around in weird ways.

We’ve made some solid improvements:

• The tank now follows the path more closely

• It won’t collide with the environment anymore

• No more getting stuck in obstacles or doing unexpected jumps

There’s still a known issue with the tank not working properly when going through portals, but we’ll fix that in next week’s update!

known issue: tank doesn't work well on tracks teleporters & Tank has no gravity on battle arenas

We appreciate your patience with this slightly delayed update, and we can’t wait to show you what’s coming next week!

See you soon! 🚀

Hey everyone!

Thanks for your patience over the past week! We had to roll back our last update due to some issues with Race Track Groups. But the good news is we’ve not only fixed the problems, we’ve also made this feature even better!

Race Track Groups Update

You can now create and view your own Race Track Groups, plus we’ve added 4 built-in groups to help you organize your tracks more easily:

• All Tracks – Shows every track you have

• Custom Tracks – Only includes custom tracks you’ve installed

• Recently Played

• Most Played

⏱️ Constant Respawn Time!

One of the most requested features is here: constant respawn time! From now on, no matter how far your vehicle has to travel, respawning will take no more than 2 seconds.

Other Improvements & Known Issues

• We’ve improved the Otto Bot dragging animation (still not done yet!)

• The rope attached to the vehicle is currently invisible. We’re aware of it and working on a fix.

Coming Soon

• Localization is on the way! We’ve received translations in 15 languages and will be adding localization support soon. When it’s live, we’d love your feedback on how things look in your language.

• Original Soundtrack approved! Valve has greenlit our OST, and we’re getting ready to release it in the coming weeks.

• We’ll be updating our tk2.nolt.io roadmap with more info on upcoming features. Right now, we’re focused on essential fixes and quality-of-life improvements, but don’t worry, some big and exciting updates are on the way as well! 😊

Thanks again for all your support!

Hey everyone,

This week’s update is a bit lighter, but we’ve got one exciting change that marks the first step in making your experience with Mods even better!

You can now browse and create Race Track Groups, which help organize tracks into themed collections. This means it’s easier than ever to find and play the race tracks you love!

It’s a great quality-of-life improvement, and a big shoutout to Vipek (Kuba) - another awesome programmer working on the game alongside Sebastian. He’s been consistently delivering great updates, and this feature is just one of several upcoming improvements to how groups and Mods work.

Other Small Fixes & Improvements:

• Fixed options not working in-game

• Fixed "No Photos Found" not displaying in the LOCAL photo browser

• Adjusted security logic in the LOCAL photo browser

• Improved visibility of the tip shown inside the lobby

Outside of this QoL update, we’re still hard at work on high-priority features, like Tank improvements, among other things. We just didn’t manage to pack more into this week’s patch.

We hope you enjoy this new feature and stay tuned for more! -------- Edit Important note:

Due to some unexpected issues, we had to temporarily roll back today’s update. The update, including this new feature and fixes, will be available again tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

Hello everyone!

This week brings another set of bug fixes, improvements and QoL updates :)

📅Daily Hub TOTD Voting

• Voting UX improvements You can now browse and vote for community tracks without having to go through the track details page first! When you click "Vote for Track" in the Daily Hub, you'll be taken to the Mods screen where you can instantly see which tracks are available for voting, how many days are left until tracks become available again, and you can cast your vote very easily.

• Voting System Update - Play It, Love It, Vote It! Another change is related to which tracks are eligible for voting. These tracks are available in public lobbies, so we were looking to find a way to encourage players to vote for the tracks they really like.

  From now on, you will only see and be able to vote for tracks that you played and completed within the last 14 days. This way you can vote for tracks you clearly enjoy, and that you know are possible to finish without issues!

🎮Private Matches Improvements

• Custom Lap Counts You can now successfully select lap count for the whole lobby. Single lap, 7 laps - everything should work as expected!

• New Lobby Setting: Track Voting (Enabled/Disabled) A lot of community members requested the ability to vote for tracks in private lobbies. From now on, the room owner can choose whether to select the track for everyone or be a little more democratic!

🎯 Skipped Checkpoints Logic Fixes & Improvements

• Smarter Teleportation: Instead of being teleported to the missed checkpoint, you'll now be teleported to the last valid grounded point before you missed the checkpoint. This fixes some possible exploits that allowed reaching checkpoints via teleportation.

• Fixed infinite teleportation loop to skipped checkpoints

• Checkpoint teleport no longer gives you boost reserves

• Fixed critical issue where checkpoints stopped working after missed checkpoint teleportation and starting a new race

🏆 New Cup Scoring System

• The points distribution for places 1st-8th is now: 10pts, 8pts, 6pts, 5pts, 4pts, 3pts, 2pts, 1pt

🔧 Critical Fixes - Testing Phase

Some issues are really hard to replicate, but that doesn't mean we'll stop before we fix them! :) The fixes below still need to be confirmed by the community to verify they're really gone:

• POTENTIALLY FIXED - Huge ELO Loss/Gains bug (-3000/+4000 ELO swings). Also, if the game has trouble receiving your ELO rank, you should now see a dialog informing you there's a problem.

• POTENTIALLY FIXED - Online race positions in game summary were being wrongly calculated/presented

• POTENTIALLY FIXED - Scuba Driving crashes should hopefully be gone

• POTENTIALLY FIXED - Last-second track selection bug where selecting a track at the very last second caused the wrong track to load for the whole lobby

✨ Other Improvements and Fixes

• Added info to options screen about keys to reset controller bindings to default

• Leaderboards Screen - Fixed items not loading after selecting Battle Arena TT

• Lobby Track Selection - Fixed issue where wrong track could be selected

🔜 Coming Soon

We have a lot to do still, but rest assured Tank Item improvements and consistent spawn time are top priorities that should be tackled in one of the very next upcoming weeks!

Thanks for playing and keep the feedback coming!

🏎️💨 See you on the track!

Hey everyone!

This update brings a ton of improvements, and we hope you’ll enjoy it! It also marks eight weeks of consistent weekly updates, and we’re incredibly proud and happy to keep up this pace.

Your support keeps us motivated, so if you haven’t yet, please consider leaving a review on Steam to help us out ❤️

Now, let’s get into what’s new!

Skipped Checkpoint Detection

The game will now automatically detect if you’ve missed a checkpoint If that happens, your kart will be teleported back to the missed checkpoint, and a notification will appear in the middle of your screen.

Checkpoints Visible on Minimap

On some tracks, it was hard to tell where the checkpoints were, now they’re visible directly on the minimap. Best of all, this works across all vanilla and modded tracks, with no need for modders to update their maps.

Time Trial Replay - Correct Time Difference

Replaying leaderboard ghosts will now display the same time differences that were visible during the original run. Previously, the replays always showed 00:00.000 at every checkpoint. Now, you’ll see the actual time differences recorded during the race - just like when the record was created.

Respawn Target Point Improvements

The respawn system has reverted to the old version without issues like skipping parts of the track or passing through walls. Additionally, a bug in the initial point selection has been fixed.

Reset Keyboard & Joystick Bindings - Fixed

Resetting key bindings in the Options menu now properly resets joystick bindings as well.

Track of the Day Ghost File Override - Fixed

There was a critical issue where setting a new record in the TOTD leaderboard replaced global leaderboard ghost file. Although the global record time was correct, the wrong ghost replay was saved. This has been fixed - the game now uploads separate ghost files for Global and TOTD leaderboards to prevent this issue.

TOTD Score Leaderboard Registration - Fixed

The special TOTD score leaderboard, which awards points for top-30 TOTD finishes, wasn’t properly registering player participation. This is now fixed! Remember, scores update once per day when a new batch of TOTD tracks goes live.

Privacy Settings

You can now hide your country flag from leaderboards and in-game displays. This option is available in the Settings menu.

Menu & Interface Improvements

Stickers

• Added a clear notification when trying to apply stickers to vehicles that don’t support them.

Pages

• Added a seamless loop to page navigation dots so they no longer move off-screen.

• Added a page counter (e.g., “1 / 5”) on most screens.

Keyboard

• Added “Hold Backspace to delete text faster.”

• Extended the input time for pressing ENTER on physical keyboards for better responsiveness.

Settings

• Added a hold progress indicator for the Reset and Reset All buttons in the Controls menu.

Grand Prix Track Selection Improvements

• Added a helpful tip to the track selection view.

• Removed the “Tracks Order” setting.

• Renamed the “Shuffle” option to “Randomize” for clearer meaning.

• In local co-op, only the lobby leader can now modify track selections.

• Fixed an issue allowing track selection when “Mixed Mods” was enabled.

• Fixed the Randomize button not working correctly in single-mode lobbies.

• Fixed a visual issue where the “Clear Cups” button didn’t display properly.

Other Fixes & Improvements

• Improved “hold button” behavior - actions bound to the same key will no longer trigger during the hold animation.

• Fixed issues where search and sorting functions weren’t properly bound to their assigned keys.

• Corrected the display format of sorting options across multiple screens.

• Adjusted the button order (X/Y) for consistency between screens.

• Fixed overlapping of “Sort By” and “Details” buttons in Tracks and Grand Prix screens.

• Fixed “NO MODS FOUND” text not clearing correctly after repeated searches.

• Fixed incorrect TAB button visibility when cycling to the last element using Q.

Other Gameplay Improvements

• The center boost bar text now remains visible after releasing the drift button.

• The game now ensures your kart is properly aligned with the ground before race start - preventing those before race jumping kart issues.

• Fixed an exploit where air time increased during respawn, allowing players to gain unintended boost reserves.

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

This week’s update is a little different - instead of lots of changes and bug fixes, we have something big to share: The game now runs on a brand-new engine - Unity 6! 🚀

What’s Cool About Unity 6?

• It makes the game run better (yep, it’s faster already, even without extra performance tweaks!).

• It makes the game ready for consoles port.

• It opens the door for awesome things we can build later.

Modding Tools News

Don’t worry, mods still work just fine - nothing changed! We’ll upgrade the modding tools to Unity 6 soon, but for now, you can keep making mods the same way as before.

What’s Next?

Next week, we’ll go back to our usual updates with bug fixes and improvements. For now, we’re keeping things simple to make sure Unity 6 works smoothly.

🐞 Found a Bug?

If something feels weird or broken, let us know!

Thanks! ❤️

Hey Everyone!

Race Track Search & Sort Mode

• Race track search support

• Race track sort mode support

• Fix a last page navigation bug

• After selecting all tracks for a cup, the game now automatically moves to the next screen

Respawn Target Point Fix

• Fixed and improved the algorithm that decides to which point a player should respawn

• This resolves issues where players were being respawned to the wrong positions, which allowed them to abuse the respawn system

Spectator & Top Player List Sort

• Fixed spectator mode in online races (Previously, after joining a match already in progress, the spectated player didn’t match the UI info)

• The player list now shows racers sorted by their current race position

Customization

• Added an "Applying Preset Changes" mechanism - This ensures that the current preset changes are fully processed before any new ones are applied. (Fixes bug #428)

Keyboard QoL

• When using a physical keyboard to search, quickly pressing ENTER now moves selection directly to the "CONFIRM" button

New Versioning Layout

• v1.0 is reserved for the Full Release launch, (Older builds used version numbers like 1.0+, which was confusing since the game is still in EA.)

• Current versions follow this format: v0.1 \ .6 \ .0 \ - v0.1.6.0 (this week update)

Roadmap Update

• We’ve updated the roadmap to better reflect what’s important to the community

• From now on, the roadmap is priority-based

• Check out it here : Roadmap tk2.nolt.io

Thanks everyone!

What’s New This Week?

This week brings a bunch of exciting improvements to the game!

Preset Customization: Item Search & Sorting Support

One of the most requested features is finally here - and it works great!

• Sort items by: Oldest / Recent / Alphabetical / Popular

• Search support: No more scrolling item by item to find the perfect character – now you can just search!

New Single Boost Bar UI

We’ve added two new versions of a single boost bar:

• Long and short variations available

• Includes small indicators for early / good / perfect boost (up to 3 in a row)

• Fixed reserve text scaling issue

• Minor polish and improvements

New Settings & Accessibility Options

• Option to disable player-to-player bounce physics

• Accessibility setup (Auto Accel & Steer Assist) is now moved to the main Settings window

• Accessibility options are now enabled in all game modes

Manual Respawn Support

• Hold your respawn key for 1 second to trigger a manual respawn

  • PC: R

  • Xbox: Y

  • PlayStation: Triangle

• Option to rebind the respawn key

• A shorter, consistent respawn time is coming in the next update

What’s Coming Next?

Thanks so much for your continued support! We’re working hard on even more updates in the coming weeks.

• The roadmap at tk2.nolt.io will be updated in the next few days

• We’ll also be hosting an official The Karters 2 stream to talk with the community, set priorities, and plan the upcoming dev focus. Stay tuned for more info soon ( hopefully Monday - September 22th)

Future Plans

We’re preparing some major updates, along with game promotions to bring in new players - so stay tuned! And if you haven’t already, please consider leaving a review - it really helps us out!

Console Port News

We’ve officially started working on console versions of the game!

There’s still a long road ahead, but optimization and a Steam Deck pass will be our next big focus as well – aiming to make the experience perfect on both Deck and consoles.

Thanks again – and see you next week! 👋

Hey Everyone!

Local Save Fix

• Fixed save system when Steam Cloud Save is disabled

Photo Browser Improvements

• Fixed an issue where older screenshots wouldn't show up. They should be visible now.

• Fixed a crash that could happen when uploading pictures to Steam.

Mod Browser - Search Support!

• Added a search bar so you can find mods faster (v1)

Customization

• Changed items count per page. Each page now contains 25 items instead of 16.

• Changed the controls: X now edits a preset, and Y deletes one.

• Changed the button for creating a new preset. It’s now a + icon located at the very end of your preset list.

• Changed the default view. Customization now starts in modded view, ensuring players can see their mods right away when creating their first preset.

• Changed preset creation. Every new preset now automatically gets a random vanilla skin, so friends without mods will see you as a random character instead of the default Puma.

• Added clear labels when browsing skins and materials/variants.

• Added displaying arrows when there are multiple pages of presets.

• Fixed incorrect icon showing on newly created presets.