Any actual newbie/starter guides to drifting?

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I am coming in to this more than aittle frustrated, so I apologize up front. I have watched just about every YouTube video out there with a newbie or starter guide for drifting in FH3, and browsed through the forum here. (Since you cannot limit Search to a specific sub-forum, it is pretty useless) I have tried multiple cars built out exactly the way they were in the videos, and tried the various suggestions, but nothing works (for me).

My goal: be able to drift within the context of FH3 for the sake of the drift zones, and any additional upcoming Forzathons that might require it. (I barely managed the Silvia one because of a combination of the Drift challenge and them referencing the car you needed incorrectly, but I digress.)

What I currently experience: under no circumstance am I able to maintain a drift. It will either flatten out early, or immediately turn into a spin out. Yes, I hear you say “throttle control”, but what I see happen on my screen does not match up with what I see in the videos. More often than not, I will see someone manage to keep the throttle at some arbitrary midpoint that is physically impossible for me to do either with the controller or with wheel and pedals. Other times, if it is a throttle feathering technique, I just get a completely different result than they do, so I’m at a loss at this point. I’ve tried downloading tunes for half a dozen different cars, RWD, AWD, high HP, lower HP, doesn’t really seem to matter.

Also, no, I have no clue whether I am experiencing understeer vs oversteer, and the textbook definitions don’t help because I cannot translate what I am seeing on the screen to those terms, sorry. If it is at all helpful, I can upload some of my failed attempts to YouTube to share here. One particular beginner guide had a series of exercises to try, and I cannot even get past step one which was to do controlled donuts in the middle of a wide paved area. (Seemed a reasonable progression - donuts, figure 8’s, then roundabouts, but if I can’t get past step 1…)

Given that I am the only common element here, I have to assume it is because I don’t know what I am doing, and the lack of any sort of method of learning the game’s mechanics outside of trial and error does not help. (If I don’t know what “right” or “good” is, how exactly is this supposed to allow me to learn something I don’t know how to do? Pssst, T10 and PG - this is a problem.)

Please don’t:

  • Respond with anything that can be summed up as “git gud”. Get out.
  • Provide some diatribe about the difference between power sliding and drifting, or a link to that godawful hour plus “drifting bible” video. As I said, this is within the context of the game. I’m not trying to learn how to drift in a real car, and if I were, I wouldn’t be asking about it here. If the game considers it “drifting”, it is drifting. (Also, if you’re the type of person that goes into YouTube videos for beginners with this kind of nonsense, get off the internet and just stop. You are the definition of everything wrong with gaming culture.)

Long post, I know, but if you can help out, I would be forever grateful.

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Hey, it sucks to struggle.

I’m a competent and experienced drifter, ill try to help.

here is a list of things to try.

  1. Don’t completely write of the ‘drift bible’. try find the shortened clips on youtube re: transitions and power over drifting. (power over drifting maintains the highest speed when changing from one drift direction to another - therefore- higher drift zone points)

  2. Race tyres OR stock tyres - race for grip and speed - stock for smoothness (slower speeds help with this due to reduced grip). Dont be fooled into trying street or sport tyres- too inconsistent grip.

  3. Rally springs (IMO the best)- highest steering angle - therefore higher permitted angle before spin in drift.

  4. Street ARB’s ( seriously) - its one less thing to tweak in tuning and therefore one less setting to have wrong- once you have the car set then you can add race ARB’s if your transitions are too slow.

  5. Rear spring softer than front- increase the difference for more grip, decrease the difference for more responsiveness.

  6. DIFF. acc 90-95% Dec 80-85%

go to the car park in surfer paradise ( nissan GTR bucket list) and find a route that allows a big circle drift- get comfortable both left and right, modify course to resemble figure 8- to learn transition. then make one circle of figure 8 smaller so you have to practise fast -to-tight drifts.

Good luck and if your on XB add me GT Masskong

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I’m having the same frustration with learning to drift…
This is great input.
Question: Is it even possible to reliably drift with automatic transmission? Should you always use manual & clutch, or can you bypass the clutch?

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I would never class myself as the. best drifter out there, in fact I am having the same issues as the op. But you I have found with transmission you need to have form of manual transmission, be it with or without clutch. I personally use it with clutch because I am used to it now and anything else feels weird, but manual with out clutch works just as well for drifting (IMO).

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I wouldnt worry about doing transitions or getting a ton of angle.
By definition- power-over means to give full throttle as you’re comin out of the corner(or the apex, if you wanna be technical). Enter the corner at a moderate speed(3rd gear specifically and be sure to at least have MT settings) and, as your exiting said corner, give some extra power and turn into the corner. Your car should snap into a drift due to sudden loss of traction. When that happens, be ready to countersteer(turning the wheel in the opposite direction of your drift). Then, just practice on straightening up.
Once you’ve gotten comfortable with powering out of the corner and getting straight, you should have gained some throttle control. Now, extend your drift coming out of the corner- still using the powering over method.
Get use to that, then try initiations.
Don’t think high speed, 360, reverse or, anything. Concentrate solely on your “race line”- initiate using your hand brake as you come close to the corner and follow the race line; out, in and, back out. Except, you’re sideways. Focus on maintaining the same angle to set you up for a proper, straight exit through the apex. As you gain control, go faster and add more angle. Start off shallow and work your way up to pushing your cars max angle.

I sincerely hope this works. I’ve been drifting on Forza since the first game. Took a hiatus and picked it up again with Horizon 2. I’m far from the best(or what most consider the best), but I certainly have done my fair share of research and practice.
Last word of advice: stop watching youtube videos and trying to mimick others. If it’s anything I’ve learned about drifting- game or real world, it’s that everyone drifts differently. Whether it be tunes or feel for the car, always aim to do what feels right to you. Once you’ve aquired a “base tune” for yourself, you’ll be ready for anything.

Good luck and keep drifting fun!

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Thank you for opening up this topic! I’m struggling trying to get down tbis drifting dynamic. As much fun as it seems, I too keep either flattening out, losing too speed, or spinning out.

Great advice! I’m going to try this out tonight :slight_smile:

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Hi, I have recently gone through the same problems as you, I watched every video, read every bit of info and spent hours tweaking set-ups or trying to use downloaded ones and i was beginning to think i was never going to figure it out. Please everyone dont take this as me trying to disagree with your way of tuning or anything but this is what worked for me and it made an incredible amount of difference to my ability to drift.

I downloaded fortune 6 on my mobile and it helped a bit but then i found U2SC Tuning Calculator and thats when everything changed. Use the circuit/street racing tune type, install race suspension (not rally) as i found i was unable to achieve the stiffness in the front springs that was necessary with rally springs. Install sport tyres (its a happy medium), tyre width try to avoid extremes i generally try n keep it under the 300’s on the rear and 265 or under on front. Install race anti-roll bars, brakes, tranny, diff etc. Then carefully put the info into the U2SC Calculator that it asks for (takes all of 2 minutes) and then calculate tune and apply the tune to your car and the only change i make to it is running around 32 psi in the front tyres, run the rears at what the calculator says though.

I know that all that i just said goes against alot of what other people say but i was at the point where id tried all of those things and gotten no where and you seem to be in a similar place so i hope this can help you as much as it did for me.

You can add me on xbox live if you like my gamer tag is Tank Slappin. I have saved a few of the tunes made with the calculator, personally i think the tune for the 1997 RX7 is the best one ive made so far so feel free to download it for a bit of a test drive.

http://bg55.com/u2scforzatuner-beta.php - Link to U2SC Forza Tuning Calculator.

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step 1: download a good Rear Wheel Drive drift setup (I have a few on my storefront but there are loads out there. be sure to use search keywords when looking for a tune)
(try awd after you learn, not before)

step 2: turn off traction control and shift manually. I have a lot more control with manual clutch, but that’s an advanced technique. I advise to start out with auto clutch and learn to do it yourself once you have the feel down.
ABS is a preference but I keep it off so I can lock all 4 wheels when I want to. Normal steering (not sim).

step 2: start a rivals challenge on a fully paved lap with nice tight corners. The one next to the jungle festival (just right of the exit) is suitable.

step 3: do hotlaps. but instead of trying to accelerate with grip as soon as possible, you go on throttle a little too early and too hard so your rear wheels slip out (on a drift setup it will be very hard to maintain grip with any amount of throttle so this should come naturally)

DO NOT try to drift at this point. It will only frustrate you for spinning out all the time.

step 3.5: keep trying to control that throttle over steer until you have it down. Congratulations, now you can actually try and drive grippy, powerful, rear wheel drive racecars without traction control. But that’s not the point here. Point is you train that throttle finger until it’s awesome. Don’t forget to start the counter steer as soon as you THINK about slipping sideways.

step 4: once you have throttle over steer down, you can advance to the next step. Entries.
You have to do a few things in very quick succession to nail this:

  • turn in slightly
  • hold the handbrake (clutch as well once you add that in)
  • counter steer
  • control the slide towards the apex using steering and subtle foot brake

hold it …

  • throttle to rev it up
  • release handbrake
  • gently control throttle oversteer like you have learned in the previous step.

step 5: transitions. release throttle, let the car swing to the other side, back on throttle.

step 6: play with handbrake, foot brake, throttle and steering to control angle and speed.

step 7: git gud.

doing random donuts is just a matter of holding throttle and steering to the max. But small circle drifts around a target are actually pretty hard to do properly.

once you’re good enough at drifting you can just throw a lot of power at any rwd chassis and be able to slide it like a boss. For me setups don’t matter any more to get the job done. they only matter for it to feel good so I can be precise.

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