Is this supposed to happen? (*Very* Serious Drifting Question)

[Prince_dela_Bun]

Ok, this might just be because I'm not a very good drifter, and might not have all the techniques down... but when I do drift, and compare the speeds I'm going at while I'm drifting with the speeds I'm going at while grip racing, they're quite different... and different in the way that I was afraid of.

Is drifting just for show or is it supposed to be the most efficient way of getting around a corner quickly? I think it's both, but mainly the latter, as I've heard and seen many times before.

But for example, just yesterday, I was racing on Costa di Alfami (Normal) with my Nismo Fairlady. At the first few hairpins (the ones you encounter first on the normal track, not the brutal ones when you're going reverse), I did the litte drift thing... put the breaks on... turned sharp into the turn and drifted out the other end... at a speed of about 40-50 Kph, which in my opinion seems rather low. This speed applied for the other hairpins too, and of course, my drifting speed for the last few hairpins were even slower (actually, on the last one I couldn't even drift cause of the tightness).

Then I tried grip racing with the default settings on the car. To my amazement (and dissapointment), I was able to maintain about 70-80 to almost 90 kph on the first few hairpins (while turning of course), nearly double the speed I had while drifting, which was kind of upsetting...

Is it something I'm doing wrong? I hope so. Is it the combination of that and my Fairlady (which to my dissapointment doesn't have greant handling when it comes to steering... it seems to want to go in a straight line no matter how much you steer it... this kinda messed up my drifting too, probably, cause it took a lot of effort to drift this thing on such sharp tunrs)? Do I just needa work on my technique more?

Oh, and just to add... I practice my drifting in the drifting park tracks, first on the pig parking lot like area and then at Motorland. Now there's this one huuuuge nearly-"U" turn about midway with a bunch of sand and barriers block you from flying past it (know what I'm talking about?). I've never managed to drift it properly... so my second question is, what kind of technique do you use to drift extremely sharp turns like the one in Motorland? Right now I just brake enourmously before hand and start turning into the turn far it comes but it never fully works...

Thanks!!

PS: Oh, and I'm really sorry if this should've gone in my other topic, but this question was kinda unrelated with my other ones and was more a question for technique and stuff...

 

[SineSierra]

drifting has nothing to do with speed, aside from the fact of sliding through a turn. it is all about the show of a drivers' skill and control of the car. it's comparible to ballet, like others have said before. drifting is all about the beauty of the automobile. don't feel so bad about your speed. this sport is about getting a car as sideways as you can, and keeping it there throughout a corner. no worries on whether you're "good" or not. just keep on praticing, and you'll get it soon enough. good luck!



P.S. try drifting without any aids....just use discretion with the throttle and your car will become more natural to control

 

[sicbeing]

GT4 isnt the best drift simulator. the game likes to try and throw you back into a straight line, or back into understeer. In gt4, it seems very difficult to have the tires slip naturally. In gt4, unless I'm in a AWD Dirt Rally, I wouldnt drift to win on any course.

 

[Prince_dela_Bun]

Oh... haha, I see.

and yeah, I am drifting without aids.

 

[Greycap]

Is drifting just for show or is it supposed to be the most efficient way of getting around a corner quickly? I think it's both, but mainly the latter, as I've heard and seen many times before.

It depends on the type of drifting. If you're doing show drifting and concentrating for the looks, the speed will naturally be lower. But there's also "speed drifting", for which I don't know the correct name, in which the drift is caused by going into a corner too fast for the tyres to grip. An example of this is the following clip, made by me (naturally ):

Sorry, a dead link by now

It wasn't a drift run, it was an all-out speed run but the fastest way to make that car go forward was to make it go sideways.

- R -

 

[FC3Sleepah]

Sometimes getting a bit sideways is the fastest way, as evident by greycap. It helps to keep momentum, mostly around hairpins.

 

[slider-s15]

drifting is all about grace and angle rather than speed. if you want to go fast get a race car. as for your technique just practise, if you dont get it in your 350Z try something else.

 

[Prince_dela_Bun]

"It helps to keep momentum, mostly around hairpins."

Now that's the thing.... my car goes terribly slow while drifting around hairpins, haha...

Anyway, can anyone enlighten me on the technique used to drift around really sharp corners (corners between 90 and 180 degrees... think V shaped ones... hehe) along with big U turns like in grand valley and stuff... I always find myself hitting the outer wall or just flying off the track and into the sand, but when I try initiating the drift earlier, I don't really make it around the corner... o__O

 

[nk4e]

There are two types of Drifting: Speed Drifting( Best shown by Sheron) and Exibition Drifting( Best Shown by FBI, IDM, and PDR?..etc) and the Technique that is recommended on 90 Degree turns is Feint.

 

[sicbeing]

the trick is , is to drift on the racing line, for the most part. You still want to hit the clipping points, the apex's. If you find yourself flying into the sand or the outer wall of the turn, try differnt angles or different speeds.

 

[rsmithdrift]

Trying to look at your speed in the corner to determine if your faster or slower won't work in GT4, or in real life.

In Real life the speedo is attached to the drivetrain.......so if you have wheelspin you speedo will be terribly inaccurate to the road. It'll show your wheelspeed, not car speed. In GT4 it shows the cars speed in a forward direction. Wheelspin doesn't affect your speedo accuracy, but angular speed does. The speedo in GT4 can ONLY sense forward speed, so since your moving sideways while drifting you have more ANGULAR speed than you do FORWARD speed and your speedo will show MUCH lower than what your really going.

The only way to tell for shure is to compair lap times with identical cars with perfect laps. I find low angle speed drifting to be a consistent 1-2 seconds per lap faster at almost every track when using N tires........However on racing tires it's noticably slower.

 

[SouthSideSlider]

there is a way to use drifting to get around the corner faster but it is much different then what your thinking . enter the turn faster than you would with a grip and thrrow the tail out and use the drift to drop your speed to the appropriate level and by that time you should be exting so you shoot out onto the strait. this is best used with cars with good acceleration... thats how i used to do t on GT4

 

[Keichi Tsuchiya]

Kansei Drift: Executed at race speeds. When entering a high speed corner a driver lifts his foot off the throttle to induce a mild oversteer and then balances the drift through steering and throttle motions. The car that is being used for this style of drift should be a neutral balanced car therefore the oversteer will induce itself. If the car plows through any turn this technique will not work.

Got it off some website, but i've seen this same paragraph copied onto so many websites, I don't think its necesary to disclose the source. Also, why don't you take a look at this thread, its somewhat relevant to what you are talking about.

EDIT: This might give you a little insight also: http://www.driftsession.com/drift_techniques/kanseidrift.htm

 

[sicbeing]

A Quote from wikipedia

Drifting techniques

The basic driving techniques used in drifting are constant, though each car and driver will employ some subset of these techniques. They include:

Hand-brake or Emergency brake drift - The hand-brake is pulled to induce rear traction loss. This is generally the most common technique used to perform a controlled drift in a FWD vehicle by inexperienced drivers. Also, this technique is used heavily in drift competitions to drift large corners.

Power oversteer or Powerslide - This drift is performed when entering a corner at full throttle to produce heavy oversteer through the turn. The excess power causes the drive wheels to lose traction in a RWD or AWD car. This is the most typical drifting technique for all-wheel drive cars.

Lift off, Lift throttle, or Taking In[4] - By closing the accelerator while cornering at very high speeds, cars with relatively neutral handling will begin to slide, simply from the weight transfer resulting from engine braking. The drift is controlled afterwards by steering inputs from the driver and light pedal work, similar to the Braking drift.

Shift lock - Initiated by downshifting (usually from third to second or fourth to third, and using a very fast shift) instead of braking, without rev-matching, causing the drive wheels to lock momentarily. Helpful for very tight corners, allowing the driver to approach the corner at a slower speed and lower revs, while allowing quick acceleration when exiting the corner. This technique can be very damaging to the engine if mis-used as the ECU is unable to rev limit when the engine is oversped by the rear wheels. Premature downshifters are called "Rod Stretchers". [5]

Braking Drift - This drift is performed by braking into a corner, so that the car can transfer weight to the front. This immediately followed by throttle in a RWD car causes the rear wheels to lose traction.

Clutch kick - This is done by "kicking" the clutch (pushing in, then out, usually more than one time in a drift for adjustment in a very fast manner) to send a shock through the powertrain, upsetting the car's balance. This causes the rear wheels to slip.

Inertia (Feint) drift - This is done by transfering the weight of car towards the outside of a turn by first turning away from the turn and then quickly turning back using the inertia of the rear of the car to swing into to the desired drifting line. Sometimes the hand-brake will be applied while tranfering the weight of the car towards the outside to lock the rear wheels and help the rear swing outwards.

Dirt drop - This is done by dropping the rear tires off the road to maintain or gain drift angle. Only permissible when there is dirt or foliage near the edge of or to the side of the track.

 

[Stanley^Carter]

Don't think about it too much.

It's a fact and it's that simple, Grip driving > Drifting

Grip driving always wins in terms of speed.

When you drift, just enjoy it.

 

[Swift]

Don't think about it too much.

It's a fact and it's that simple, Grip driving > Drifting

Grip driving always wins in terms of speed.

When you drift, just enjoy it.

There is is folks 👍

 

[nk4e]

There is is folks 👍

Lol or in Initial D terms, there is a third style. Between grip and drift.

 

[Shadow Fox]

For me the element of either drifting or grip driving through a specific corner varies a lot in terms of what car you are using and what kind of tires you are using. I'm going to use Deep Forest Raceway (Normal) for my explanation since I've driven on it more than the other tracks combined. In the first hairpin corner I when trying to achieve the fastest laps on N3s certian cars react differently and can go through that section (the position of your car after the hairpin and after climbing that hill) faster through different means. The R32 GTR Vspec II for example, IMO, is a car where you would have to rely on grip or else you will be experiencing lap times 2-4 seconds slower than what you can achieve. Through that hairpin the basic out-in-out is the fastest way in order to get through. On an Evo VI GSR the fastest way I got around that section was to initiate a slide by braking much less than the R32 and letting the slide position my car and slow it down at the same time. The slide eventually points the car towards what I would call the second apex of the turn and use the car's power in order to shoot it towards the outside of the other side of the hairpin. A similar tactic was done when I used the Corvette C5 Z06. Although the drift angle was significantly smaller and the line was very similar to the out-in-out grip line of the R32 GTR.

I find that a slight drift with most cars helps you achieve entering speeds of 90mph in the final left of Deep Forest Raceway as well. Any faster and you'll probably hit the grass on the right side and from experience, if I do that even without hitting the wall, the ghost from the fastest lap (if it was behind) catches up to me and passes me). I think it's because hitting the grass took away acceleration time on the tarmac but that's a different topic altogether.

Note that this only worked for me on N-Type tires. On Racing Tires, grip has an obvious advantage on most cases. Usually, the only time I can go faster by drifting on racing tires is for the final 2 hairpins of Costa Di Amalfi where I use the E-Brake in order to rotate the car close to 180 degrees.

 

[sicbeing]

A lot about speed drifting, and also rally driving, is the fact that a little sideways action helps keep the RPMs up for exits, i believe.