Getting the car to drift

  • Thread starter Dready1984
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Dready1984

Dready1984

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England
Southampton
Dready1984
Ive been sat on a 2:20.226 for about a week. Ive seen the videos of the top guys but I just cant get the car to drift round the corners the way they do. I either understeer and go off track, or over steer and spin it. Its driving me mad! I know im not going to qualify for the finals, im not trying to. But any advice anyone could give to help me out would be greatly appreciated.

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere, I did search.
 
Dready1984
Ive been sat on a 2:20.226 for about a week. Ive seen the videos of the top guys but I just cant get the car to drift round the corners the way they do. I either understeer and go off track, or over steer and spin it. Its driving me mad! I know im not going to qualify for the finals, im not trying to. But any advice anyone could give to help me out would be greatly appreciated.

Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere, I did search.
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IIRC they're not actually drifting. They're just maintaining the correct amount of slip on all 4 tyres that will give them the best lap time. This holds true in most situation in real life as well 👍
 
The trick is to make the car oversteer slightly without the need to countersteer to complete the turn. Any time I have needed to actively countersteer to make it out of a corner I have lost time. It is difficult to get the car in this state without misjudging and either spinning out, or understeering off the track like you mentioned.
The key is making the weight shift to allow the tires to start to slip. I've found that if you can make the weight of the car shift forward immediately after turn in it will cause all four tires to slip relatively evenly. I have accomplished this with trailbraking and downshifting near the corner entry. Once your corner entry is correct and you have a slight slip angle due to the weight shift, throttle modulation has to be used to keep the car settled through the rest of the turn. Using more throttle than necessary will increase your slip angle, and letting off the throttle will either make you regain grip immediately or understeer off the turn as the car floats around on the suspension.

I have found this to be much easier using a wheel (DFGT) because you can feel the car settle into the turn, and use that feedback to help you figure out how much throttle to use, but I've had success using the controller (DS3) as well. One thing to note is that if the car is at a good slip angle through the turn, less steering angle will be needed to make it through the turn quickly. With the DFGT you can notice this fairly easily, and the force feedback will also be less as you make the turn. With the DS3 you have to rely on the feedback you get from your visual and audio cues, and force yourself to hold the thumbstick closer to center as you go through the turn.
 
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Good point Lord_Bro, definitely it seems that trail braking is the only way to be on the 1:16.x.

Leveraging on this question, I can manage to trail-brake successfully on all the corners but not on The Loop, not sure if it's a matter of getting enough speed before braking, but all that I can do here is to turn flat. Sometimes I can get a bit of sliding, but not as the fastest guys. I'm pretty close to 1.17 and I'm sure this is a critical point where I'm loosing a great bunch of time, so any tip on this would be really appreciated.
 
I think most of the top guys are using the handbrake through the loop to get the initial rotation
 
Rapidly letting go of the brakes and quick brake jabs are what I use to get the car to rotate. The turn-in+brake coordination is the key. Low accelerator input is what stabilizes the car on exit, 50-75% max, otherwise the car will just spin right round.
 
gtpcaine
I think most of the top guys are using the handbrake through the loop to get the initial rotation
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Well, I can't agree with that, I've been watching some replays and I didn't see the handbrake light blinking, but uh, who knows, I'll give it a try.

After some analysis, I've found that if the rear left tyre is at least yellowish it's easier to get the desired slipping, and yeah, that has a lot to do with how you take the previous corner.
 
You don't fully press the handbrake, only a light press. It does take some practice though. If you fully depress it so that the light shows, then you lock the rear wheels too much and spin. A gentle press on the handbrake gives the effect of normal braking but only on the rears, combine that with turning and the rear steps out, but it's controllable.

I use the handbrake in the loop, and Luffield. Occasionally in village if I mess up the braking.
 
gtpcaine
You don't fully press the handbrake, only a light press. It does take some practice though. If you fully depress it so that the light shows, then you lock the rear wheels too much and spin. A gentle press on the handbrake gives the effect of normal braking but only on the rears, combine that with turning and the rear steps out, but it's controllable.

I use the handbrake in the loop, and Luffield. Occasionally in village if I mess up the braking.
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Wow I see, I totally messed up, you're absolutely right. After 2 tries I improved my times on 0.5s, awesome. I'm gonna try on Luffield as well.

Thank you!
 

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