Based on what I've seen, read, and experienced (Well, tried, anyways), I'm going to take a guess on why drifting works. Note that this only really applys to FR, not FF or 4WD.
You're entering a corner. You turn the wheel, and either hit the E-Brake or mash the gas or do something to make the rear wheels break traction. You begin to oversteer. The car may be going in what is still a nearly straight line, but the car is starting to point at the inside of the corner. Under normal conditions, you'd probably keep going in a near straight line while spinning and hit the outside wall. However, you countersteer.
The rear tires still have no traction, but you've got the front tires pointed in the direction of travel. However, the weight of the car is pulling to the outside, so the car is technically spinning out, but the front tires are still gripping. As the back end of the car continues to rotate, the front tires follow the curve of the turn. The weight of the car is shifted in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of travel. For example, in a 180 degree turn that starts going North and ends going South, then when the car is halfway through the turn, the weight of the car will be shifted to the North.
However, if you don't countersteer enough, then the front tires will begin to slide, and the car will begin to spin out. By then letting go of the gas a bit, the rear tires can regain some traction and control the spin to resume the controlled drift. But if you let the gas off too much, then the rear tires regain all their traction back, and the car will completely straighten out.
On the other hand, if you countersteer too much then the front end will turn towards the outside, and all the tires are likely to regain all their traction very quickly. However, a quick hit on the e-brake can make sure that the rear tires don't regain their traction and can help for sustaining a very long drift.
In either situation, premature termination of a drift is likely to cause you to be heading towards the outside wall at a speed and angle where it is unlikely that you will avoid crashing into the wall because the front wheels will be sliding until the car straightens out. Even if you turn the front wheels into the direction of travel to straighten the car out sooner, a crash is hard to avoid because then the weight of the car will be transferred to the inside of the turn, plus the back end will have the momentum of moving back towards the inside.
Again, I'm pretty much a drifting newbie, and totally suck at it since I use a controller, and I could be totally wrong.
How correct am I in this post?
You're entering a corner. You turn the wheel, and either hit the E-Brake or mash the gas or do something to make the rear wheels break traction. You begin to oversteer. The car may be going in what is still a nearly straight line, but the car is starting to point at the inside of the corner. Under normal conditions, you'd probably keep going in a near straight line while spinning and hit the outside wall. However, you countersteer.
The rear tires still have no traction, but you've got the front tires pointed in the direction of travel. However, the weight of the car is pulling to the outside, so the car is technically spinning out, but the front tires are still gripping. As the back end of the car continues to rotate, the front tires follow the curve of the turn. The weight of the car is shifted in a direction that is perpendicular to the direction of travel. For example, in a 180 degree turn that starts going North and ends going South, then when the car is halfway through the turn, the weight of the car will be shifted to the North.
However, if you don't countersteer enough, then the front tires will begin to slide, and the car will begin to spin out. By then letting go of the gas a bit, the rear tires can regain some traction and control the spin to resume the controlled drift. But if you let the gas off too much, then the rear tires regain all their traction back, and the car will completely straighten out.
On the other hand, if you countersteer too much then the front end will turn towards the outside, and all the tires are likely to regain all their traction very quickly. However, a quick hit on the e-brake can make sure that the rear tires don't regain their traction and can help for sustaining a very long drift.
In either situation, premature termination of a drift is likely to cause you to be heading towards the outside wall at a speed and angle where it is unlikely that you will avoid crashing into the wall because the front wheels will be sliding until the car straightens out. Even if you turn the front wheels into the direction of travel to straighten the car out sooner, a crash is hard to avoid because then the weight of the car will be transferred to the inside of the turn, plus the back end will have the momentum of moving back towards the inside.
Again, I'm pretty much a drifting newbie, and totally suck at it since I use a controller, and I could be totally wrong.
How correct am I in this post?