I just thought of something else. In the previous game, a few of the characters' special items granted invinciblity by changing the body of their car (Wario, Yoshi and Bowser to be exact), so I'm assuming those items are taken out. Also, the little chart on the bottom shows about 19 new items. Is that all there is, or will there be more?
I suppose the only way to find out is when Namco puts up the Japanese website....