Expert Claims Mario Kart World on Nintendo Switch 2 Uses ‘Fake HDR’ — Suggests Even Top Developers Overlook HDR Quality

Ugh, Mario Kart World on the Switch 2, huh? Apparently, everyone’s up in arms about it using what’s been dubbed ‘fake HDR.’ Great, right? I stumbled upon this drama while sipping my third cup of coffee—probably too much caffeine for one morning, but whatever. Anyway, these TechTuber folks are steaming mad, and some guy named Alexander Mejia threw his two cents in. He’s like the HDR guru or something, worked on Xbox Series X and Unreal Engine, so he kinda knows his stuff.

Now, here’s the kicker—Mejia says Mario Kart World pulls that sneaky “SDR-first content pipeline with a last-minute HDR tonemap” trick. Like, why? It’s supposed to be all about that 4K60 HDR life, but turns out… not so much. Is that deliberate? Or did someone goof up? Who knows, but it’s all marketing smoke and mirrors, it seems.

Mejia isn’t trashing them just to trash-talk, though; even he admits HDR can be a wild beast if you’re not careful. His advice? Start with HDR from the get-go. Makes sense, right? But, not everyone’s catching on. Maybe it’s just me, but that approach sounds way better than some half-baked afterthought.

Oh yeah, and there’s this wild bit about console brightness. Apparently, even if you crank the brightness to some insane 10,000 nits level—whatever a “nit” is—you’re still only getting like 950 nits? Sounds like a mismatch to me. All those bright colors, stuck in a boring SDR space, like Rec.709 or something. Wish I could say I totally get it, but I don’t even know why that matters.

Anyway, Mejia goes full nerd with his tests, showing off charts and measurements, and dang if it doesn’t look like a lost opportunity. Guess Nintendo didn’t bother to ask the experts first. Meh, their loss.

Okay, let’s wrap this up. Mejia does his thing, offering to help developers step up their HDR game. He’s got a consultancy or something—talk about a subtle sales pitch. But hey, if you’re lacking in HDR mojo, better call the guy who sorted Xbox, right?

Right, time to follow Tom’s Hardware if you’re into that kinda geeky stuff. Just hit the button and soak in all their tech wisdom. Or not. Up to you!