https://automaton-media.com/en/news/mario-kart-world-had-a-significantly-larger-dev-team-than-past-entries-with-art-related-positions-increasing-threefold/
>Additionally, data suggest that most of the art team members are completely new to the series. In Mario Kart World’s field design team, only 6 members had experience working on Mario Kart 8 DX and only 1 had worked on the Booster Course Pass. When it comes to current members of the character design team, only 3 have experience working on 8 DX, and none worked on the Booster Course Pass.
this explains a bit actually