I'm fairly new to this board, but I can tell you that I most likely have the most experence with drifting that's on this board. First off, the Initial D unrealistic thing. It is, yet it isn't. It's highly unlikely for an 18 yr. old to have godlike skills, and the way the anime shows the cars going by. It makes them look like they're going 300km/h on the passes. Next, with drifting. I've been drifting for quite a long time now. I have an AE86 Trueno (
http://deityofdrift.tripod.com if you want to see pictures), and I drift everywhere. Tsukuba, Suzuka, Sugo, and every other circuit, street, parking lot, or autocross track in Japan I always drift on. Well, not the Rings of Motegi. My dad and I both have Truenos and he taught me how to drift. We usually goto Tsukuba (closest from where we live) and mess around until our tyres wear out. With the way my suspension is set up, no matter how hard I try, I always exit the corner oversteering. Now, the 4-wheel drift. What neon_duke said is true. A REAL 4W drift over here is condered by having all 4 tyres straight after the apex (mid-point) of a turn. So for instance, I'm driving, a brake to let the weight shift to the front, downshift to the appropriate gear, and turn in. I can counter-steer all I want before the apex, but as long as the wheels are straight (or with MINIMAL countersteering)after the apex, it's considered a four-wheel drift. This is the hardest drift to accomplish on a circuit. It takes a high speed corner to really drift like that. I rarely do it, I like countersteering but it does make the turn a lot slower. Hope this helps, it's really hard to explain the way of drifting for speed. It was intended for show. It proves that the driver is capable of controlling a car easily and efficiently.
-Tom
