* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Espresso shills for a car he designed called the "SUX-600D". [[note]]The "sucks good", as rendered in chatroom speak.[[/note]]
** Later, Gary mentions that Tag has been signed to the racing team of Conservative Motors, who manufacture the "ever-stimulating B008-S". [[note]]"Boobs", for those of you too young to have owned a digital calculator.[[/note]]

* LevelEditor: The game takes the ''[=LittleBigPlanet=]'' approach by making the advanced Track Studio the big selling point of the game, but there is also a very, very indepth Mod and Kart Studio in comparison to similar features in other games. In fact, the default tracks on the PlayStation 3 and Playstation Vita versions of the game are created using Track Studio.

* DisappearedDad: Tags father gets mentioned during a DarkestHour scene when Tag's feeling depressed from being forced to sell out to [=CM=], but the reason for his absence never does. Evidently, he could tell early on that Tag was destined to be a racer.

--> '''Biff:''' Hey Gary, if two's company and three's a crowd, what's one?\\
'''Gary:''' The number of people at my birthday party?\\

* MacrossMissileMassacre: The level 3 missile powerup in the PS3 and PS Vita game, the Hydra, does this launching 11 missiles that home in to higher placing racers. The PSP game has an equivalent, but only fires five missiles which only home in to targets that it comes close to.

This game was announced at E3 2009 and released on May 21st, 2010 in Europe and May 25th in the United States for both the UsefulNotes/PlaystationPortable and UsefulNotes/Playstation3. Later, a UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita port subtitled "Road Trip" was released in early 2012, which is missing the career mode cutscenes from the original game. As with many classic Playstation 3 titles, the servers were eventually shut down, and as of October 10th, 2018, the game's much vaunted online features have come to an end.

* PreOrderBonus: In addition to the first shipment including a code for a [[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet Sackboy]] Mod and Kart, depending on where the preorder was made. There were codes for [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]] or [[Franchise/RatchetAndClank Ratchet and Clank]]. Some received a code for "Air Raid" DLC.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: No one ever refers to our three heroes as anything but Tag, Chief and Mom.

* ShipTease: Tag and Jez get plenty of {{UST}} during the Grand Tour, with the two constantly pranking and messing with each other during the pre-race interactions.

* ShipTease: Tag and Jez get plenty of UST during the Grand Tour, with the two constantly pranking and messing with each other during the pre-race interactions.

* DenserAndWackier: A subtle example with the background racers in each GP: while the rosters for each of the first three GPs consist of realistic racers with helmets and simplistic racing suits, the roster of the fourth one consists of odd characters like a gargoyle, a boy in bear pyjamas, a giant ant and a cat princess from space.

* FantasticRacism Towards the final boss in one cutscene, who is Italian:
--> '''Tag:''' (Offers to hug Chief after he starts to cry about bad memories)

* GameplayandStorySegregation: The game's career mode explains that the Boom Box Weapons System is what allows karts to fire weapons. In the PSP game, after [[spoiler:Richard plants a bomb on Tag's kart that explodes]] and destroys his Boom Box, he is still able to fire weapons, which is inconsistent with the story's explanation that the Boom Box is required to fire weapons.
** Also in the PSP game, Tag is able to show up as a random offline racer in normal race modes if you don't play as him despite the career mode stating that custom Mod racers are just outfits for Tag, which can be seen as a conflict between the story and the gameplay.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Espresso shills for a car he designed called the "SUX-600D". [[note]]The "sucks good", as rendered in chatroom speak.[[/note]]

* HeroicMime: Tag during the story cutscenes.
** Within reason, it is to work around the fact that Tag could just as well be anything, with any voice, including no voice at all.

* JerkAss: Biff Tradwell, especially to Gary, who appears to have gotten used to it.

** May be a case of ArtificialBrilliance, as defended by the developers in this [[http://kotaku.com/5548612/modnation-racers-creator-talks-playing-creating-and-sharing-beer Podcast]]

** Though it doesn't completely remove FakeDifficulty generated by the power-ups, mostly the level 3 ones, where the Sonic Rift tends to be ambiguous about when it hits a racer, the Bolt Storm randomly delays without any warning, and an entire Hydra barrage might prove too much for even a full boost bar shield to block entirely. When these come rapidly one after another, particularly in online races, there will be times where you simply can't avoid taking a hit.

* ShoutOut: In one of the final cutscenes from the career mode, the BigBad gets arrested. A cop then explains that his fingerprints were found on a bomb. The cop is a redhead who wears black sunglasses, wears a tuxedo and ends his bit with an IncrediblyLamePun. Does this remind you of [[Series/CSIMiami someone else]]?

* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Determining the gender of a mod is solely up to the clothes and accessories applied to it.
** Well, that, and the voice.
* [[ThisIsWrongOnSoManyLevels That Is Wrong On So Many Levels]]: Biff Tradwell's response to Tag picking his nose waiting at the starting line in Rumble Jungle. Jez looks on in a similar disgust.

* VirtualPaperDoll: Color and add accessories to your Mod to make them look like they're wearing almost anything, though you can't change the basic body shape. It helps that a blank Mod looks like a vinyl figurine.
** You can also make your mod look more like a Virtual Metal, Cloth, or Rubber Doll.

This game was announced at E3 2009 and released on May 21st, 2010 in Europe and May 25th in the United States for both the UsefulNotes/PlaystationPortable and UsefulNotes/Playstation3. Later, a UsefulNotes/PlaystationVita port subtitled "Road Trip" was released in early 2012, which is missing the career mode cutscenes from the original game. As with many classic Playstation 3 titles, the servers were eventually shut down, and as of October 10th, 2018, the games much vaunted online features have come to an end.

* AlphaBitch: Jez's entire shtick. White and pastel color scheme, snooty or ValleyGirl like affectations and says she became a racer because "daddy hates it."
* [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther Aww Look, They Really Do Like Each Other]]: [[http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/11/14/modnation-racers-road-trip-track-studio-your-wish-is-our-command/ This]] Playstation Blog post reveals that Biff and Gary carpool to and from work.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: No one ever refers to our three heroes as anything but Tag, Chief and Mother.