That's the most frustrating part of the game. You can race flawlessly, but the end result comes down to items. Still, that's what makes Mario Kart, Mario Kart. I just play online until i have enough bad games in a row and then I take a break. I have yet to join gaf on anything, but I'd like to at some point.
Yeah, apart from a couple races my driving was good. Despite getting slammed with items I was still making my way back up, only to get destroyed again by consecutive items and get dropped right back to the back of the pack. I'm pretty sure on at least a few occasions I went from 2nd to last and got hit by every single person in the race aside from whoever was in first at the time.
Also didn't help that the game itself was making it hard on me. I don't recall all the bullshit, but one example was going off the top part at the end of Bone Dry Dunes and landing right on the Dry Bones which slowed me down, but also bounced me straight into the other Dry Bones. One of the most WTF-worthy moments I've had.
Oh, and of course, blue shells deciding to pop up the moment you sniff first. Don't see one for a couple races, then you manage to hop into first for a few seconds, BAM, blue shell!
(And it's not like I ended up rage quitting anyway, the room died down to 3 people, I came in first 3 times in a row and called it a day).