It's closer to Crash Team Racing than Mario Kart but ya its in a very good spot in Early Access atm despite the smaller player base. Luckily there's so much offline content to do now. I heard that it supports 8 player split screen but I haven't tried yet.
The only gripe I have with the game is the weapons system. Everything locks on which sucks since there's no rral defensive options like in Mario Kart and you can't lay down traps to protect yourself in first place either.
That and Steam Families becoming a thing our backlogs keep getting bigger and bigger.