Finally tore myself away from Skyrim long enough to finish all the 150cc cups. Thought I might as well try an online race now that I have all the characters unlocked. Go online and check the NeoGAF community: nobody there after five minutes of waiting. Nobody in the PonyGAF community either, but that's hardly surprising.
Oh well, let's try some other community. How about this Mario Cup thing that's on my recommended list for some reason? Only have to wait a minute or so and I've got five opponents, three from Japan, one from Germany and one from Italy IIRC. First race is Rosalina's Ice World. I proceed to dominate the race before getting bumped to second place by a blue shell in the final lap. Frustrating, but fun. Online play seems like a blast.
Then things started getting suspicous. Second race is Koopa City. Hmm, that Metal Mario is getting pretty large lead. I'm playing almost a perfect game but I just can't catch him. He's in first place, I'm in second and the rest are far behind. I get hit by a red shell and lightning a couple of times but keep my second place throughout the race. Oh well, maybe this guy is just that good.
From the third race on, everything starts going to hell. Luigi's Mansion. I can see from the start that something is wrong; Metal Mario is dominating again, but now there's another player racing as Mario who seems to be warping all over the place. At some points he seems to be going backwards, meaning towards me, but then he warps to the other side of the track again, and a second later somewhere else. Metal Mario is in a league of his own, and this warping Mario is second for the whole race, with me in third. Can't get past him and shells seems to have no effect on him. Anyway, I finish on third place, but after the finish line there's a huge delay. When the continue option finally appears, I notice that I've been bumbed to fourth place. WTF, I finished third and the fourth guy was nowhere to be seen! Whatever...
Final race, Toad Circuit. Metal Mario speeds off immediately after the first turn and I don't see him for the rest of the race. Normal Mario keeps warping from one side of the track to the other. Only now there's another player, playing as Koopa, doing the same. I think I'm playing pretty good, but it doesn't matter, these three seem impossible to beat. Finish in fourth place. Third in final standings.
So yeah, not very impressed by my first MK7 online experience. The first race was fun and overall the game was nice and smooth, but these guys were clearly cheating at least in the last two races.