One thing I'd like to add to this: It may be a good idea to have items that target the player directly in front of you, or even ALL players in front of you, instead of only the one in first. If you're in 7th place and you throw an item at a person who's miles ahead it won't really help you.
One other suggestion is to assign a numerical "worth" to every item and change item distribution so that you get items with higher worth if you're further away from first place - and by this I mean in terms of points, not ranking. i.e. being 50k points behind but in 2nd will give you better items than if you're 20k points behind but in 4th.
Also, have more stars.
One other suggestion is to assign a numerical "worth" to every item and change item distribution so that you get items with higher worth if you're further away from first place - and by this I mean in terms of points, not ranking. i.e. being 50k points behind but in 2nd will give you better items than if you're 20k points behind but in 4th.
Also, have more stars.