It should be noted that the pipes (loot boxes) have recently been replaced with a shop where you directly pay for things using rubies instead of gambling. [1]
That being said, the prices in the shop are quite expensive from what I've heard from people who play the game.
For emphasis, the reason that many games recently are switching from the loot box model to the non-loot-box model (such as Overwatch 2), even at the point of putting microtransactions at super high prices, is several countries such as Belgium have banned loot boxes and there could be pressure to ban them elsewhere.
That being said, the prices in the shop are quite expensive from what I've heard from people who play the game.
[1] https://twitter.com/mariokarttourEN/status/15655858873035325...