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A
Note About the Term 'Drift'
There are several meanings associated with this word. So
for the sake of clarity here, when I refer to drifting in this document
I'm talking about "exhibition drifting" - the kind performed
simply because it's fun and challenging. It has nothing to do with fast
lap times except in extremely rare circumstances. The four wheel drift,
a racing technique for faster lap times, is not discussed here.
So
What is Exhibition Drifting?
Simply put, drifting is the art of controlling a car sideways.
Sounds simple enough, right? The truth is, there are several techniques
and styles involved in drifting, and it takes a lot of practice and patience
to do it well. Drifting is not going to produce faster cornering speeds
or lower lap times. It's purely a stylish, challenging, and FUN way to
drive through a corner. Drifting culture is big in Japan in real life,
and there are drift competitions held which rate drivers on style, speed,
and precision.
Some
of you may be thinking that drifting has no real value to the racer, then.
On the contrary, it's a valuable skill to posess. I won't go into details
here, but drifting can be beneficial in two ways. One, a driver who is
comfortable pushing a car way beyond its limits will not panic when those
limits are exceeded unintentionally (while racing, for example). His or
her instinctual reactions will take over and recover the car gracefully.
Secondly, drifting can be used to carry a less than ideal line through
a corner to set up or make a pass.
Control
In GT3 you can drift with the standard DualShock2 controller, but it is
best experienced with a force feedback wheel. As such, this document is
written with a wheel in mind. I use the old Logitech GT Force, although
I learned to drift with the DualShock2 first. I really recommend a force
feedback wheel to get the best experience. It gives you the ability to
execute extraordinarily smooth, precise drifts. The GT Force is particularly
good because of its superb throttle pedal throw and precision.
A
note about the steering assist settings in the options menu for steering
wheel users. Do not use the Simulation setting! It prevents the car from
countersteering beyond a small range, which is highly unrealistic. I prefer
one of the middle settings - either Amateur or Professional. Amateur has
a bit of countersteer-help built into it, while Professional does not.
Professional also makes the wheel more responsive on-center.
You
force feedback wheel users might also benefit from undercalibrating the
wheel a bit. When calibrating it, don't turn the wheel to full lock left
and right. Instead, turn it to perhaps 80% of full lock in each direction.
I prefer the sensitivity and feedback of the wheel when it's undercalibrated.
It seems to increase the amount and quality of feedback through the wheel.
Getting
Sideways
There are
many ways to get a car sideways in a turn (this condition is often called
oversteer in racing circles). Which methods you use is entirely up to
you. I'll breifly describe some methods to initiate oversteer here.
Power
Oversteer - This is the most common method, and an easy one
to learn. When you want the car to oversteer, simply punch the gas while
you're turning. As long as you haven't turned the front wheels too far
the car will go into a tail-out slide. To use this technique you need
a car with enough power to overcome traction at the rear wheels. This
doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a lot of power. You can get
away with "only" 250hp or less if you use Simulation tires.
Most of my GT3 drift cars have about 300hp.
Feint
Motion - A personal favorite of mine. This involves turning
the car to the outside before a turn and flicking it in the direction
of the turn as you enter it. For example, if a left turn is approaching,
keep the car more or less in the middle of the track. Before you want
to turn in, rock it to the right, then before hitting the wall (or grass)
turn the car left. Done properly this will overload the suspension as
the right side compresses, and the car will begin to slide as it turns
left. This technique does not require violent or abrupt movements of
the steering wheel. Instead, somewhat subtle and smooth inputs will
get the job done with grace.
Braking
Entry - In my opinion this technique is not used enough.
It seems to me a lot of people rely on power oversteer, and this limits
them to entering the drift at a lower speed. With a drift entry under
braking, you can be sideways well before a corner, entering it at high
speed. To perform this technique, you want to stab the brakes while
turning into the corner. If you need to slow down a lot for a corner,
brake first, then release them for a bit and stab them again as you
turn in. This works especially well with mid-engined cars. Note that
you need to be entering the turn at a higher speed than you think you
should for this to work. Also, this technique can be combined with the
Feint technique for some fun, totally sideways braking drifts while
slowing down from high speed into a slow corner.
Lift
Throttle - Here's a simple way to slide the back end out.
As you turn in, suddenly lift off the throttle to unload the rear wheels.
This works similarly to the braking entry, but there's much less slowdown
involved here. This technique is generally useful when you're already
going the right speed for drifting around the turn ahead.
E-Brake
- Usually this isn't a very graceful way to enter a drift. I include
this here because it's often the first thing that people think of, but
also because it does have a purpose most people don't think of.
Using the e-brake, you can actually extend a braking drift if you've
entered it too early or are too slow. When you've entered a braking
drift before a turn, and discovered you've done it too early and are
going to shortcut the turn (or hit the inside wall if there is one),
you can actually pull and hold the e-brake to make the car keep sliding
on a straight path. This will also make your car reduce speed more slowly.
This is more of an advanced technique to try once you've gotten the
hang of the others, but I include it in here because I've found it very
useful to me.
Staying
Sideways
In order to ensure you don't spin out or lose the drift once you've entered
it, there are a couple things you need to do.
Firstly,
countersteer. That is, turn the steering wheel in the direction opposite
the turn you're driving through. When the tail end slides out entering
a left turn, steer right. You should actually start countersteering before
you think you should. Anticipate it. Make it a smooth motion as the car
begins to step sideways. With some practice you will learn just how much
to countersteer depending on the situation. Often you can get away with
less opposite lock than you think.
The
second thing you need to do to balance the car in the drift is modulate
the throttle. Generally, more gas will make the car rotate more (and so
too much throttle will spin you around), and less gas will start to tuck
in the tail end. You want to use both steering and throttle to keep the
car drifting. The farther sideways you are, the more you should countersteer,
and the gentler you should be with the throttle.
As
you get better you can spend more time drifting on the brakes into a corner.
The first two turns at Apricot Hill are a good example. You can go flying
into the first turn sideways under braking, and not get on the throttle
until entering the second left. With practice you'll learn when you can
get back on the throttle from a massive braking drift.
Exiting
the Drift
This is another area where personal style plays a big part. You can do
this quickly, or gracefully, or however you like. The general idea is
to either countersteer more or give it slightly insufficient throttle
(or both) to get the car to begin to 'catch.' Now if you want it to be
a smooth exit from the drift, just as the car begins to catch you should
feed in some more power and begin to dial out some opposite lock.
Linking
Drifts
This is something to try after you've gotten somewhat comfortable with
drifting around. It's fairly easy to do. The idea here is to be drifting
in one direction, and immediately transfer the car to drifting in the
other direction. A great series of turns to try this on are the first
few turns at Apricot Hill. The first double-left can be taken in one smooth
arc, hold the drift past the second left, and toss the back end out to
the left to begin drifting around the downhill right turn. Then link the
next left turn, and the next right. That's a fun series of turns to link!
To
link drifts, you want to exit the first drift in a way that makes the
tail end start to slide the other way in a hurry. Usually this involves
dialing in extra countersteer, maybe a little extra throttle, and then
suddenly lifting off the gas (or braking if you need to do that). The
back end will bite pretty quick. As soon as you feel it do that, start
countersteering the other way. If you don't need to slow down for the
second drift, start feeding in some throttle pretty soon. If you do need
to slow down, hit the brakes of course. :) Either move will help the back
end out.
The
Importance of Car Setups
This isn't as important as you might think. There
are a few things that make it easier to do, but setup is mostly a personal
thing. There are no "magic settings" that make you and the car
masterful drifters. :) You can take a stock RWD car out in GT3 and drift
it well if you have the skills developed. There are a few things I like
to do, however, that make drifting more fun and easier. The first is to
install a triple clutch and lightweight flywheel. This way I don't waste
any time in-between shifts if I should have to shift in mid-drift. Another
thing I like to do is set the brake bias more towards the rear. This is
my personal preference, so you may like it the other way around. Finally,
limited slip differential upgrades are nice to have (especially if the
car doesn't come with one at all, such as the basic Sprinter Trueno).
I like the adjustability of the Full Customize LSD, but a 1.5 way or 2
way will get the job done.
One
thing I really do feel is important in learning to drift well is SIM TIRES.
Use them at all four corners. They may seem slippery at first, but they
teach you a lot about restraint and control in the drift. There's no need
to manhandle the car around to get it to drift. My favorite drifts are
the extremely sideways, yet smooth ones. Sim tires offer a lot of control
when sideways. Grippier tires will require much more rapid inputs and
adjustments from you, and more power to keep the drifts going. Some like
to mix tires and put sticky ones up front only. I've found this feels
very unnatural and makes it harder to drift. Once you get sideways, the
car wants to go all the way around on you.
Having
said all that, I'm offering one of my setups here for you to try out.
It's my favorite drift setup, even though it was one of my first ones.
I have a lot of drift cars based off of this one, but I also have some
that are completely different. So don't think they all have to be along
this order. :)
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The Car:
Mazda RX7 Infini-III (FC)
Mods:
- Full Racing Suspension
- Sports Brakes & Balance Controller
- Stage 1 Turbo
- Racing Intercooler
- Racing Muffler
- Sports Chip
- Port and Polish
- Full Engine Balance
- Full Racing Transmission
- Triple Clutch
- Racing Flywheel
- Carbon Driveshaft
- LSD Full Customize
- Weight Reduction Stage 2
- Simulation Tires
ASM
and TCS set to zero.
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Settings:
SR - 6.0 / 7.9
RH - 102 / 102
Bound - 5 / 7
Rebound - 6 / 7
Camber - 3.0 / 0.5
Toe - -0.5 / 1.5
Stabs - 3 / 3
Brakes
- 4 / 24
LSD:
Initial = 50, Accel = 50, Decel = 18
Gears:
auto level 24
1 - 3.000
2 - 2.160
3 - 1.700
4 - 1.370
5 - 1.147
6 - 0.965
Final - 3.980
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Final
Thoughts
While this guide will tell you the basics of how to adjust a car's behavior
while beyond the limit, it won't make you a master drifter. When I started
teaching myself to drift in GT2 I had nothing to go on but a few videos
from Japanese web sites. I spent a few weeks just experimenting like mad
- seeing what worked, what didn't, and what the cars could really do.
Seat time is your best teacher for drifting. Keep an open mind, try new
things you might not think of otherwise, and don't worry about screwing
up at first. Drifting isn't simple, but it's worth the challenge when
you've learned how to do it well repeatedly. Most importantly, have fun!
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