It almost sounds to me like in this example you're using an underpowered car or a car with suspension tuned for comfort tires....
The cars I tried drifting sports tires on were my 300zx and MkIV Supra, so there was definitely no lack of power. And on both of them, I made alterations to pretty much everything...suspension, diff, tranny, and ballast. Perhaps my settings were still too tight, but i tweaked the settings until I was happy with the way the car felt while drifting on sports. Even with those changes made, I felt as though I couldn't spin out from too much throttle. That said, I did this was 3-4 months ago, so both my tuning and drifting skills are not what they are today (also to eliminate confusion, I do all my testing in my lounge or a lobby...only use practice mode for taking pics)
I suppose with less traction, it's easier for you to over-do or under-do it by a lot, which I think is really the point some folks may be trying to make. For example if you floor it a little too much on comforts your RPMs might increase by 2000 whereas on sports they might only go up another 500 or so before you realize the mistake. However, that's a double-edged sword and not really a valid point. Look at that situation from another perspective, what if you WANT to increase the RPMs by 2000 all of a sudden? With comfort hards, RPMs are on tap. You just push the pedal and the effect is seen instantly. With stickier tires you can't just carelessly drop the pedal because the RPMs probably won't climb fast enough and you'll get thrown off the track by snap understeer. You have to plan ahead for it and shift the weight of the car so that it's possible to do this. Or add more power, I suppose.
I see the point your making...but isn't the whole "double edged sword" a double edged sword in itself?...so, it's like a quadruple edged sword...wtf is that lol???
I think in this area we both agree that there are aspects of sports drifting that are challenging, and aspects of comfort drifting that are challenging. It all comes down to how the driver manages these different aspects. Some people may find it easier to to control the "RPM on tap" feel of comforts, while others find it easier to control the "soft feathering" required by sports.
I understand the point you're getting at. The speeds are slower and so it does feel like the margin for error is less. It's a lot easier to go 10% faster than your intended entry speed in snow/rain than on dry pavement. So in that respect I can see the point you're trying to make. However, I still disagree on the overall point, because it just "feels" like the margin is smaller due to the relative differences in speed. Which brings me to this:
The margin for error is still larger on wet surfaces. Yes the speed becomes slower, so speaking in absolute terms the margin is smaller, but in relative terms it's actually larger. What I mean by that is say your speed through a corner should be 30mph dry, 20mph wet. Say your margin of error is around 3mph dry, so you could enter 10% over or under your normal speed. On wet, it might be 2.5mph which is a "smaller" margin but relatively speaking it's bigger, you can be 12% over or under. (Yes, I totally pulled those numbers out of the sky.) The point I'm trying to make is that in terms of actual time elapsed, you have more time on wet/snow than on dry pavement to correct your mistake. You don't need the same lightning-quick reflexes.
I understand what you mean about the absolute and relative margins for error...that's a nice way of putting it.
BUT...at the end of the day, I don't really care what the numbers are. What matters is what FEELS more difficult. And for me, drifting in low grip conditions FEELS more difficult. But that's just for me, myself and I. I'm sure it's different for you, along with everyone else.
And perhaps I should clarify what feels more difficult. Like I said before, I find it harder to "hit my marks" in low grip conditions compared to when I have more grip. Put another way, I find it harder to drift
accuratly with less grip.
The Suzuka D1 section is a perfect example. If we're talking about doing the whole section, taking the proper line, hitting all the clipping points, and getting good angle, I find it much harder in the rain compared to in the dry.
In racing, the two are often one and the same. Easier means the driver can be more consistent. Yes, it's easier to grip than drift in dirt because you'd have to be going ridiculously slow, but we're not talking the difference between grip & drift on a given surface, we're talking about the difference between drift on one surface and drift on another. The F1 videos were a better example than the rally drivers, I guess. It wasn't even about speed or consistency or even showing off, they simply do it because it feels natural. As traction decreases, drifting becomes natural and easy. In snow for example, it feels more natural than grip. I find it to be second nature, I don't even really have to think about it, in-game or in real life. When it's dry, it's much more intense and requires more focus.
I'm assuming you're talking about the video of the guy driving a formula car around the 'Ring in the wet.
I completely disagree with you when you say "it wasn't about speed or consistancy"....in that video, it's ALL about speed and consistancy. The one and only reason he is breaking traction is because he is trying to go faster. That is a great display of some outstanding driving, but he is basically on the edge of control through every corner.
And in my eyes, he's not really "drifting" in the true sense of the word, but rather using counter steer to correct for the power oversteer (and he's getting that much oversteer because he is trying to go fast). Nowhere is he entering the corner under drift conditions...that would be insanely hard at those speeds in those conditions.
I agree that as traction decreases, drifting becomes the more natural way to navigate a corner above and beyond a certain speed threshold (and this applies only to an experienced driver, who knows how to drift). But just because drifting becomes more natural, I don't think it is easier. In my opinion, just because it is
easier to get the car to drift, that doesn't mean it is straight up
easier to drift
Anyways, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree.
To sum up, I think we agree that there are aspects of both comfort and sports tire drifting that are difficult (along with drifting on dry surfaces compared to wet or other surfaces) . In my personal opinion, I think the difficulties associated with comfort tires outweigh the difficulties of sports tires, and that is why I say sports tires are easier to drift than comforts
One more reason (and this may be a bit of a stupid, but oh well) that I say sports are easier than comforts is based on my experience in open lobbies (like the ones named OMG DRIIIFFFTTTZZZZ!!!!! or something dumb like that). I can't count the number of times I've been in one of those rooms, saw people "drifting" (in this case, those are very sarcastic air quotes...) on sports tires, asked them "why don't you try comforts?', and have them respond with "cause comforts are too hard" or "sports are easier". The other thing that happens a lot is that people come into a CH only room, and then ask to have the tire regulations changed so they can use sports. When asked why, they usually say "cause comforts are too hard" or something like that.
The reason I say that might be a bit of a stupid point is because one could make the argument that most of those kinds of people are kids (no offense to all the young bloods around here intended) who don't actually drift. Rather, they race their car around the track, get a little tire smoke on corner exit, and think they are drifting.
