We tried Manchester's new karting experience that's like being inside a game of Mario Kart

The UK's first live action video game karting experience arrives in Manchester this week and we were the first inside to take to the tracks.

Chaos Karts combines real-life racing with augmented reality and it honestly feels like you're inside a game of Mario Kart. Each player has their own kart and just like Mario, you get to pick your own avatar and even the colour of your vehicle.

The easiest way to explain it is that the players are real, the karts are real and the racing experience is real - you whizz around an actual track. It's the track that changes each time though, as it's projected onto the floor along with the rest of the landscape that surrounds you.

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What it means is that one minute you're racing around in a desert, the next you're in space, or trying to avoid the meteors crashing around you.

The whole time you are racing you're collecting points and using your weapons to battle it out with your opponents, who in turn are launching their weapons right back at you.

We didn't quite know what to expect as we rocked up at the venue, based at the Old Granada Studios site, to try it out ahead of its official opening this Friday, September 1.

As a family we love playing Mario Kart and enjoy VR games on the oculus, so we wondered how it would compare. I have to admit that for all of us, even the kids, it surpassed our expectations.

It's one thing playing online, but to actually be able to sit in the kart and race around a track yourself, it really does take it to the next level. And to truly be immersed in the virtual world without the need for an annoying headset or a screen is quite something.

There are six tracks in all and the player with the most