Don't forget to add the 2 lighting strikes... ; )

The lightning strikes usually don't affect things that much in my experience.

The beauty of this game is that it's not enough to reach first place in order to win, unless you want to rely on luck. If you really want to win systematically, you have to drive really well vs the other players, in order to get a significant advance in the track.

If you are only going for Gold Medals, then if I was to compare MKWii to MK:DD.

50cc is easier
100cc is slightly easier (unless you get really good with the bike early on in which case it is even easier)
150cc is about the same, perhaps slightly harder

Mirror mode however is definately harder, I remember in MKDD mirror mode wasn't really any harder than 150cc (if not easier) whereas the AI seem a lot more agressive for MKWii.

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Of course if you are going for all star ratings then MKWii GP mode is definately harder, and all triple star ratings I am not sure I will even get, I am still working on a few more GPs to get double star ratings (2 in 150cc and 3 in mirror) but you have to drive exceptionally well to get a triple star.
generally in  100/150cc  if you stay in 1st for the majority of the time in all 4 races you will be assured a 2 star, and should get a 3 star unless you did something stupid.
In 50cc it is easy to do this but it doesn't seem to get a 3 star rating, probably because 50cc is so easy you need to be an incredibly exceptional driver. (boost start, drift tight into the corners, avoid as many shells sent as possible, wheelie/orange drift as much as possible and perhaps do that trick that lessens the POW block effects)

I bought an Xbox 360 this weekend, but it's going to be taking a back seat to Mario Kart Wii for the next couple of weeks, at least. It's a shame, because one of my friends just lent me a pile of Xbox 360 games. He owns about 60.

We played a few online games with Mario Kart Wii as soon as we had a chance. It's awesome -- the online functionality works with 12 players, and if people leave you still have 10, or maybe 8 players to play against. And others can just join your game. It's a lot of fun.

My poor Xbox 360 will just have to wait until we're done freakin' out over Smash and Mario Kart.  

Probably my least favourite console Mario Karts. 64>DD>>Wii

Though it is still good.

Damnit, I need to try this! I'll give it a spin the next time I meet Torleif (my pal with the American Wii ) at his house. If he's bought it, that is...

 That's the opposite of my own opinion: MKWii>>DD>64 (I haven't tried DS, SNES or GBA versions but I would expect DS to come after Wii and SNES is way outdated and would be last, though if I had tried it at the right time it would probably be up there with Wii... I have no idea about the GBA version, all I know is the GBA tracks on Wii suck)

You guys are nuts. This game is a completely average game... the snes mario kart runs circles around it.

^ LOLZ

I've got to agree with the Kotaku review (http://kotaku.com/385002/mario-kart-wii-review-im-not-angry-just-disappointed). Having played this for a few days now it doesn't quite live up to my expectations. It's a good game and definitely worth buying but I'd rate it as the weakest in the series. (I've played them all bar the GBA version.) The biggest disappointment is the battle mode where you have to play in teams not just one on one. Several times I beat my fiance but he officially won because of the cpu players on his team. Eventually he said something like "I hate this, it's nonsense, you're blatantly better but the team members keep letting me win." It's just not fun when random AI dictates the score.