INTRODUCTION
I thought that i will never learn to drift. I was getting frustrated. When GT5 came out i heard it was going to have realistic physics. I got excited. Then i played it. I got desperate. I couldn't drift. And then tonight , just like that, in the span of half a minute, i figured it out. I went from being a complete noob who could spin a cup of coffee out, to drifting a 458 Italia tuned up to 650 hp. I'm dying to share,so here it goes. I use a Fanatec GT2 wheel with 900 degree rotation.
A drift is performed in two completely separate and independent from each other parts. Those two parts are :
1. Getting the car sideways.
2. Maintaining a drift.
PART I : LOSING TRACTION
Beginner drifters should only focus on learning how to get the car sideways. Do not worry about drifting at all. Get the car sideways, lose the traction, then just stop. Relax. Do nothing further , don't counter-steer, don't apply gas. Master kicking that tail out first. Isolating and focusing just on this will lift up a lot of pressure from your eager-to-drift mind. Practice it until you can get any RWD car sideways.
TOP 3 WAYS TO LOSE TRACTION :
0. The optimal way to turn into a corner is with a 45-90 degree turn in , while maintaining a steady half-way throttle.
1. Turn into the corner at a good 90 degree wheel turn. Relax. Then mash the throttle like a stab of a knife. Mash it with vengeance. But DO NOT keep your foot on the gas pedal after the RPMs start to shoot up. Give it a good kick, then move your foot away from the gas. Your car should be sideways now. The key is to not keep your foot on the gas. When done right, this will send you into a controlled,but quickly dying slide sideways. When done wrong, your car will spin out, because you kept accelerating but you didn't realize that your car has already lost traction.
2. Turn into the corner with a 90 degree wheel turn and hold it there. Mash and HOLD the throttle full on WHILE you straighten the wheel from the 90 degree to its original 0 degree position. I call this the 90-0 degree technique. When done at the same time, it will get the car sideways. Once you get sideways, immediately release the throttle and counter-steer. If you're too slow, you will spin out. Here the drift is generated by the straightening of the wheel while the gas is HELD at full throttle. It is counter-intuitive, because this requires you to actually steer as if you want the car to hit the side of the road, but it works when you do a nice job. It is an advanced technique, because it requires counter-steering skills that will neutralize a potentially violent spin out.
3. Perform a scandinavian flick. It is useful for situations where you want to use momentum rather than horsepower. Not a mandatory technique for drifting. If you're negotiating a right turn , sharply turn to the left before your turn in.
PART II : MAINTAINING THE DRIFT
After you master getting a car sideways, then you can worry about maintaining the slide - drifting. Here is how you maintain a drift, using a Ferrari 458 that revs to 9000 rpm :
1. Use your RPM gauge as a reference.
2. Know that 4000 rpm in 2nd gear is the optimal speed that most cars can take a 90 degree corner with. I'm talking about a normal racing line turn. Anything more than that is a very good handling car. Anything less than that is a poor handling car. The 458 can take a turn at 6500-7000 rpm, which is Godlike.
3. Thus, while turning, anything higher than 4000 rpm in 2nd gear is a venture over the normal limit of the grip of most cars. At 4500 rpm you will begin to hear slight tire noise. If you keep it up to about 5000-6000 rpm, you will lose grip , though in most cars you will most likely begin to under-steer really bad.
4. However, if you are at 4000 rpm in 2nd gear WHILE YOU ARE SIDEWAYS, your engine isn't working hard enough to sustain your drift and the slide will fade. But because you would be counter-steering at this point, you will spin out due to excessive steering input and insufficient throttle input.
5. If you are at the other end of the gauge, at 8000-9000 rpm in 2nd gear, your engine is spinning too rapidly. As result, your car will spin out very violently and probably crash.
6. Find the middle ground between the sweet spot and the red line. If you are at 6000 rpm in 2nd gear, your engine is spinning at the right rate as to sustain your drift. This is for the 458. Every car is a bit different.
7. A drift at a sustained 5000-5500 rpm is a slow drift. A drift at a sustained 6000-6500 rpm is an optimal drift. A drift at a sustained 7000-7500 rpm is a fast drift.
8. The secret to maintaining a drift - DO NOT ACCELERATE WHILE DRIFTING. Watch your rpm gauge like a hawk WHILE YOU ARE SLIDING. Maintain the throttle so you keep the RPM needle on a specific number through the entire drift. The reason why most beginners keep spinning out is because they accelerate while drifting. For some reason, the picture of a drift in our minds is a slide that keeps getting faster and faster as it powers out of the corner. Drifting means sliding at a CONSTANT, UNCHANGING speed. Watch that rpm arrow and use the throttle to keep that needle at 6000 rpm! Your car will get a life of its own and start drifting without your help.
So to summarize :
1. Know your car's sweet spot. Most cars are 4000 rpm in 2nd gear.
1. Get the car sideways
3. Counter-steer a good amount of turn degrees while maintaining the rpm needle on the same number throughout the entire drift. 6000 rpm is a good start.
THE DRIFT CORNER LINE
There is a reason why a beginner should practice losing traction in isolation from maintaining a drift. That is because it grants you an important ability. That ability is the freedom to get a car sideways ANYWHERE on the track. It is the knowledge that you can. That you can, without having to worry about what you'll do next. That ability is received when your mind stops thinking of a drift as one continuous action, but as two completely separate phases. And because they are separate, you don't need a corner to get sideways. And because you don't need one, you feel free to get sideways BEFORE a corner. This way, by the time you reach the apex, you are ALREADY sideways. And if you can do all of the above, but get sideways before a corner, you now are drifting like the pros do. It frees your mind. The mechanics of this are as follows :
1. Know that your mind has a false image of what a drift is.
2. Know that your mind has a false association of two incompatible images : the image of a racing line and the image of a drifting car. The notion of accelerating during drifting comes from the image of the racing line.
3. Know that your mind has set up a habitual expectation of drifting only while in the presence of a corner, which in turn has conditioned your mind to only try to get sideways as a way to negotiate a corner.
4. Break that.
I was dying to share that. Hope it helps.
I thought that i will never learn to drift. I was getting frustrated. When GT5 came out i heard it was going to have realistic physics. I got excited. Then i played it. I got desperate. I couldn't drift. And then tonight , just like that, in the span of half a minute, i figured it out. I went from being a complete noob who could spin a cup of coffee out, to drifting a 458 Italia tuned up to 650 hp. I'm dying to share,so here it goes. I use a Fanatec GT2 wheel with 900 degree rotation.
A drift is performed in two completely separate and independent from each other parts. Those two parts are :
1. Getting the car sideways.
2. Maintaining a drift.
PART I : LOSING TRACTION
Beginner drifters should only focus on learning how to get the car sideways. Do not worry about drifting at all. Get the car sideways, lose the traction, then just stop. Relax. Do nothing further , don't counter-steer, don't apply gas. Master kicking that tail out first. Isolating and focusing just on this will lift up a lot of pressure from your eager-to-drift mind. Practice it until you can get any RWD car sideways.
TOP 3 WAYS TO LOSE TRACTION :
0. The optimal way to turn into a corner is with a 45-90 degree turn in , while maintaining a steady half-way throttle.
1. Turn into the corner at a good 90 degree wheel turn. Relax. Then mash the throttle like a stab of a knife. Mash it with vengeance. But DO NOT keep your foot on the gas pedal after the RPMs start to shoot up. Give it a good kick, then move your foot away from the gas. Your car should be sideways now. The key is to not keep your foot on the gas. When done right, this will send you into a controlled,but quickly dying slide sideways. When done wrong, your car will spin out, because you kept accelerating but you didn't realize that your car has already lost traction.
2. Turn into the corner with a 90 degree wheel turn and hold it there. Mash and HOLD the throttle full on WHILE you straighten the wheel from the 90 degree to its original 0 degree position. I call this the 90-0 degree technique. When done at the same time, it will get the car sideways. Once you get sideways, immediately release the throttle and counter-steer. If you're too slow, you will spin out. Here the drift is generated by the straightening of the wheel while the gas is HELD at full throttle. It is counter-intuitive, because this requires you to actually steer as if you want the car to hit the side of the road, but it works when you do a nice job. It is an advanced technique, because it requires counter-steering skills that will neutralize a potentially violent spin out.
3. Perform a scandinavian flick. It is useful for situations where you want to use momentum rather than horsepower. Not a mandatory technique for drifting. If you're negotiating a right turn , sharply turn to the left before your turn in.
PART II : MAINTAINING THE DRIFT
After you master getting a car sideways, then you can worry about maintaining the slide - drifting. Here is how you maintain a drift, using a Ferrari 458 that revs to 9000 rpm :
1. Use your RPM gauge as a reference.
2. Know that 4000 rpm in 2nd gear is the optimal speed that most cars can take a 90 degree corner with. I'm talking about a normal racing line turn. Anything more than that is a very good handling car. Anything less than that is a poor handling car. The 458 can take a turn at 6500-7000 rpm, which is Godlike.
3. Thus, while turning, anything higher than 4000 rpm in 2nd gear is a venture over the normal limit of the grip of most cars. At 4500 rpm you will begin to hear slight tire noise. If you keep it up to about 5000-6000 rpm, you will lose grip , though in most cars you will most likely begin to under-steer really bad.
4. However, if you are at 4000 rpm in 2nd gear WHILE YOU ARE SIDEWAYS, your engine isn't working hard enough to sustain your drift and the slide will fade. But because you would be counter-steering at this point, you will spin out due to excessive steering input and insufficient throttle input.
5. If you are at the other end of the gauge, at 8000-9000 rpm in 2nd gear, your engine is spinning too rapidly. As result, your car will spin out very violently and probably crash.
6. Find the middle ground between the sweet spot and the red line. If you are at 6000 rpm in 2nd gear, your engine is spinning at the right rate as to sustain your drift. This is for the 458. Every car is a bit different.
7. A drift at a sustained 5000-5500 rpm is a slow drift. A drift at a sustained 6000-6500 rpm is an optimal drift. A drift at a sustained 7000-7500 rpm is a fast drift.
8. The secret to maintaining a drift - DO NOT ACCELERATE WHILE DRIFTING. Watch your rpm gauge like a hawk WHILE YOU ARE SLIDING. Maintain the throttle so you keep the RPM needle on a specific number through the entire drift. The reason why most beginners keep spinning out is because they accelerate while drifting. For some reason, the picture of a drift in our minds is a slide that keeps getting faster and faster as it powers out of the corner. Drifting means sliding at a CONSTANT, UNCHANGING speed. Watch that rpm arrow and use the throttle to keep that needle at 6000 rpm! Your car will get a life of its own and start drifting without your help.
So to summarize :
1. Know your car's sweet spot. Most cars are 4000 rpm in 2nd gear.
1. Get the car sideways
3. Counter-steer a good amount of turn degrees while maintaining the rpm needle on the same number throughout the entire drift. 6000 rpm is a good start.
THE DRIFT CORNER LINE
There is a reason why a beginner should practice losing traction in isolation from maintaining a drift. That is because it grants you an important ability. That ability is the freedom to get a car sideways ANYWHERE on the track. It is the knowledge that you can. That you can, without having to worry about what you'll do next. That ability is received when your mind stops thinking of a drift as one continuous action, but as two completely separate phases. And because they are separate, you don't need a corner to get sideways. And because you don't need one, you feel free to get sideways BEFORE a corner. This way, by the time you reach the apex, you are ALREADY sideways. And if you can do all of the above, but get sideways before a corner, you now are drifting like the pros do. It frees your mind. The mechanics of this are as follows :
1. Know that your mind has a false image of what a drift is.
2. Know that your mind has a false association of two incompatible images : the image of a racing line and the image of a drifting car. The notion of accelerating during drifting comes from the image of the racing line.
3. Know that your mind has set up a habitual expectation of drifting only while in the presence of a corner, which in turn has conditioned your mind to only try to get sideways as a way to negotiate a corner.
4. Break that.
I was dying to share that. Hope it helps.
