Real Life Mario Kart Video: Real or Fake?

A video shows a car exploding after being hit by what resembles a green shell from the Mario Kart game. Is this real or fake?

The video of the explosion is real, but the shell is not.

The animated gif below has been circulating on Vine and Reddit. In the video, we see a dash cam video of slow-moving traffic. A green object appears on screen and slams into a white car, which then explodes, blowing debris all over the freeway. Both of the car’s occupants are seen jumping out of the vehicle.

Real Video

Everything in the video above is real except the “green shell,” which was superimposed later. The vehicle was not struck by an object at all, but instead exploded because it was a home-made gas-powered car.

Watch the unedited video below.

The dash cam video was shot outside of Moscow earlier this week. Both of the car’s occupants were left deaf, aside from a “permanent ringing sound.” The doctor who treated them said, “There was a massive pressure wave in the car caused by the exploding gas. If it was strong enough to send a heavy rubber tire into the air, then you can imagine what it has done to the men’s eardrums. It is too early yet to see if they will ever hear again, but the prognosis is certainly not good.”

Bottom Line

The “real life Mario Kart” video simulates a scene from the popular video game by superimposing a green shell onto video of a real car explosion.