Drifting Today

Nowadays, drifting has evolved into a competitive sport where drivers compete in rear-wheel drive cars to keep their cars sideways for as long as possible. At the top levels of competition, especially the Option-run D1 Grand Prix in Japan and the US, drivers are able to keep their cars sliding for extended periods of time, often through several turns.

Drifting competitions are judged based not on the time it takes to complete a course, but it is based on line, angle, speed, and show factor. Line involves taking the correct line, which is usually announced by judges. Angle is the angle of a car in a drift, the more the better. Speed is the speed entering a turn, the speed through a turn, and the speed exiting the turn. As usual, faster is better. The show factor is based on multiple things, such as the amount of smoke, how close the car is from the wall, falling aero and other elements. It's based on how "cool" everything looks.

Final rounds of competition often include tandem drift runs nicknamed "tsuiso" in Japanese, where one car follows another through the course, attempting to keep up with or even pass the car in front. In the tsuiso rounds, it doesn't matter if the racing line is wrong, it matters who can have the most exciting drift. Normally, the leading car usually produces a max-angle, but still close off the inside a little to prevent passing. The chasing car usually drifts with less angle, but very close to the lead car. But, a car does not even have to keep up, and in fact in some cases a car that was left behind on the straight produced a beautiful drift, winning him that round. A spin, understeer, or collision results in a disqualification of the offending party.

Drifting is not the fastest way around a racetrack. Drifting is useful when rallying but when circuit racing it is slower than conventional techniques.