I figure now that we can use the first post of this thread to spam our various different communities (whenever people get around to making them).
Anyways, I've had about an hour's worth of gameplay with Mario Kart 7 and my two immediate thoughts are:
A. It's everything I'm familiar with, the good and the bad, and the glider is an enjoyable addition.
B. I wish I could hook my 3DS up to a larger screen.
I've always had a bit of resistance towards the handheld Mario Kart games because I don't really enjoy playing 'em on a smaller screen. They're typically pretty fun games - especially Mario Kart DS and this new one - but it's just not the same experience for me. While Mario Kart Wii has received a lot of bad feelings, I enjoyed it more than Mario Kart DS for the usage of the Wii wheel and the simple fact that I could play it on my TV. ;x
Moving on... I'm really enjoying some of the new stages they've made for Mario Kart 7. My current favourite is easily Rock Rock Mountain because it's just incredibly fun to play. I still haven't played the final two new Grand Prix cups but hopefully they contain some fun stages too. ^^
P.S. - Even if you can unlock more, starting off with only 8 racers to choose between makes me sad.