Okay. Wow. I just got a physics class for free...
Anyway, back to the original topic of
drift faster than grip. I may not be an expert on racing (yet), but I will have to agree that the proper "drift" technique is faster than normal "grip". No need to define those terms now that it's been done pages ago.
All those tests on the first two pages of this forum were pretty good. I like that idea. Although, all it came down to was a debate on four-wheel drift, which was also informative.
Just to bring it all back to the original intention of the forum, I have a question for everyone involved with this GTP forum: if a grip driver and a drift driver were to race at the same time on the same track (in the same place I presume, until GT4), who would come out the winner? I mean, could the drifter overtake the grip driver on some turns and ultimately win the race (using equally tuned cars with slightly different suspension settings for either style)?
If we can't conceptually come up with the answer, maybe we could try it out on a challenge one day. Just a thought.
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On another note, I would like to see footage of the four-wheel drift. I would like to attempt it one day, but I can't exactly figure it out using bengee's description a few pages back. Maybe some of you would be kind enough to collaborate on such a demonstrational video for Gran Turismo fans. (After reading every single post, I can see that you were all talking about the same thing, just getting confused on the diction.)
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And for my $0.02 on the whole physics of cornering: I do believe that the inside wheel would reach it's maximum traction before the outside wheel because of the weight transfer. I have not yet calculated the actual effects of weight distribution (or have I even gotten that advanced), but in theory (that should be emphasized), the inner wheel experiences a reduction of Normal force (the force of the ground pushing up on the wheel) with the shifting of the weight to the outer wheel. This, therefore, causes the wheel to be more free of motion because the force of friction
f is reduced with the reduction of the normal force
N. Because friction is proportional to normal force according to:
f =
mN
where
m is the coefficient of static/kinetic friction, the more normal force present, the greater the frictional force present, and in turn, the greater the applied force (our case is centripetal) needed to move the object. The less normal force, the less frictional force is present, the less force needed to move the object. In our case, the object is the wheel in a direction slightly askew from the "line". Less normal force present in the inner wheel allows the inertia of the wheel ("centrifugal" force in other words), along with the car, to be "drifted" off the line--this, in other words, says that the limit of maximum traction can and is reached by the inner wheel before the outer wheel.
Again, please correct me if I'm wrong. (BTW, I am a second year Physics major, but in no way should you assume that I am the leading authority on racing dynamics. NOTE: I do not truly believe that "centrifugal" force is a physical entity; merely, it is a sensed occurence that entails rotational motion.)
Thank all of you for your educational posts.
