First of all, for tuning,
check the guides Scaff put together for GT4+GT5, the principles still apply to GT1 and GT2. The guides are long and in depth, and you'll have to spend a lot of time fiddling around and testing your cars before you really understand what the guides say, but they're 100% correct in every way, so reading through them won't be wasted time.
For drifting, there are definitely in depth discussions about this that you can find by searching the GT2 forum for "drifting", try in the settings sub-forum first. But the basics are simple. Now, I'm not an expert, I don't try to drift, but in some cars it just happens so I have some experience. You can drift with pretty much any FR car easily, and, with some work, in 4WD cars, too. Not real drifting in FF's, but you can throw them around to the point of having to counter-steer around a corner. Not sure about MR's, they're unstable enough as it is I try my best to not enter a corner too fast.
But with FR's, use Simulation tires to make it easiest to lose grip, though with enough power drifting is possible even on Supersofts. Pick a car of your liking, a Silvia would be traditional, then power it up to 250-300hp and add professional suspension. The suspension isn't really necessary, but with it you can harden the springs and increase the camber (to 3.0 or more) so that losing grip is even easier. Pick any track you like and start doing test laps. Going into a corner at speed, brake as usual but a little late so you're going a little too fast, and while the weight is still shifted to the front of the car under braking, turn hard into the corner and the rear end should flick right out. Immediately get off the brakes and hit the gas. Now it's a balancing act. You should be oversteering (pointing towards the inside of the corner instead of the the track ahead of you). As such, you need to countersteer to keep yourself from going off the track. At the same time, keep on the gas and keep the wheels spinning. The balancing here is between turning and hitting the gas. Too much gas and you spin out. Too little and you slow down and regain traction and probably end up getting thrown off the opposite side of the track. Turn in too little and you'll spin out. Turn in too much and you'll come around and get thrown off the opposite side of the track... As I use a D-Pad, when I find myself in a drift I usually end up "feathering" both the throttle and the steering to keep it in the zone of controlled drifting, if you use an analog controller you just have to find the right middle ground to stick it, should be easier.
Does that sound about right, guys?
