[dclowd9901]

"Wouldn't surprise me if they don't even 'drive' in any sense while off-screen, just increment some abstract position relative to the track length. But I don't know this for a fact." This seems unlikely, especially given how item pickup zones operate. Since an item box disappears for a short period of time after someone drives over it, it's imperative that the position of the CPU player who drove over it, and the one that comes after that (and inherently gets no item) is represented accurately. Even off-screen, AI continues to collect and utilize items.

Then again, maybe this is just done by cheating simply with an RNG.

[JonnieCache]

This is indeed what they do. Mario Kart 64 is known for having the most egregious rubberbanding ever.