How to Drift Your Car Like a Pro: The Ultimate Guide

Anyone who has a love for fast-speed vehicles has at some point wondered how they could drift their car. While it is easier than many would think, it does require a lot of practice.

Not to say that drifting is easy, but it does become almost second nature the more you have done it. Here is everything you need to know on how to drift a car.

What Is Drifting? 

Simply put, drifting is putting a car into oversteer to make it turn sideways around a corner or bend. Oversteering is when you turn the steering wheel to make the back of your car rotate. To drift, you must maintain balance and control of the vehicle for a turn. 

The Basics of a Drift

My first drift lesson took place in a snowy parking lot, behind the wheel of a beat-up pickup truck. It wasn’t the ideal race car, but in this case, the setting was more important than the car. There was no one around to bump into, and since the truck lacked four-wheel drive, starting a slide took little more than a prod of the throttle.

I learned to set the car (truck) up sideways and hold the tail out through a slide, how to use the throttle to provoke a higher slip angle and tighten my line, and how much I needed to counter-steer to straighten things out again. I also learned how it feels to mess up and spin out — a valuable lesson for newbies who think they’re invincible behind the wheel.

Safety First 

It’s important to take all safety precautions and protective measures before you start drifting. Take some time to check your car and wear the right equipment for exciting rides. 

Where to Drift

While a snowy parking lot is acceptable for low-speed maneuvers when there’s nobody else around, it’s really no place to learn how to actually drift a car. To perfect your technique at speed, there’s no better place than the track. Again, the emphasis is on making sure you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else.

Drift in a controlled environment. Drifting on public roads or intersections is risky. Reserve your drifting to racetracks and karting tracks– they host drift events where you can drift on open paved areas. If you want to practice, you can also gather friends and rent a racetrack. 

There are several ways to make it onto a local track. Search for Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) events in your area. Even if there’s no track around, you can probably find an autocross or gymkhana nearby where you can fling your ride around without risking innocent bystanders.

What to Wear

Wear the right shoes. You want to wear shoes that protect your feet and are comfortable. Some prefer wearing worn-in shoes so their feet are closer to the pedals. This can be anything from a pair of high-top chucks or vans (with ankle socks to protect your heels from friction and blisters) or pro-racing shoes like the Racequip race shoe with ankle support and an extended sole to protect your heels. 

Wear a helmet. With any motorsport, wearing protective gear like a helmet is essential. A simple  Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) professional standard helmet will do if you want to attend drift days. If you start to compete, you must get a helmet with a higher certification. 

Can You Drift Any Car? 

Besides safety equipment, certain ideal conditions will make your drifting experience better. 

Go for manual transmission over automatic transmission. Although you can use automatic transmission for drifting, manual gives more control over the process with the clutch pedal and gear shift. With more control, you can achieve the right speeds and angles required for drifting.

The basics needed for a good drift are a front engine, rear-wheel drive, or front-wheel drive. Ideally, You should also have a locking differential. This allows the tires to rotate at the same speed when needed for a controlled turn. You can still use an open-type differential, but it may feel slightly awkward. Turn off any stability control or electronic traction when you’re on the track to drift correctly.

Car checks. Ensure your engine’s coolant and oil levels are up to standard.  Also, check for any leaks, damage or worn wheel bearings that may affect performance. 

Use worn-out tires. While grippy tires are suitable for everyday driving, you need worn-out tires so the car slides easily around corners when drifting. In your tire selection process, look for tires with shallow tread patterns, strong midribs, wide grooves and hard vulcanized rubber for strength and durability. 

What You’ll Need to Get Started

The world’s elite drift racers can slice a track to ribbons in some unconventional cars, but for learning the discipline, there are a few must-haves. Most importantly, you need to have rear-wheel drive. That stuff your buddies do with fast-food trays might be good for laughs, but it’s not drifting.

Popular first drift cars include the Nissan 240SX and Toyota Corolla AE86. More recent models that fit the bill include the Toyota GT86 and Mazda Miata. As an alternative to thrashing your road car, go-karts make an excellent jumping-off point and are where many professional racers cut their teeth. Where I live near Harrisburg, there are even kart tracks dedicated to practicing your drift technique.

How to Drift 

A drift has a few basic parts. Take your time to learn the correct technique and see what’s best for you. To start, here are some steps to follow: 

Step 1: Starting the Drift

The first step is approaching the corner and pressing down on the gas hard enough to initiate an oversteer. As mentioned, If you are using a road car, you will need to quickly step on the brake to shift the weight from the back tires to the front.

After you have stepped on the gas, quickly flick the steering wheel in the direction of the corner. This step is not easy and will need a lot of practice to understand how much throttle is needed.

Step 2: Catching the Drift

Next up is catching the drift, which proves difficult when first starting. In this stage, once the car begins to oversteer, it will require the driver to quickly let go of the wheel so that the vehicle’s rear can slide out.

Step 3: Holding the Drift

Once you have caught the drift, you will need to maintain it. This is the fun part. Here, the driver must alternate between steering and pressing down on the throttle.

This requires a little practice. Once you start maintaining the drift, you will soon discover what exactly is needed to keep the vehicle from spinning out of control.

Step 4: Transitioning the Drift

Once you get better at drifting, you will want to transition from one corner to another. This is probably the most challenging part of learning how to drift a car.

Transitioning requires the driver to slightly overrotate the vehicle and then let go of the throttle. This movement will allow the tires to temporarily regain grip and cause the back of the vehicle to move in the other direction.

Next, let go of the wheel again and catch it at the right time. While letting go of the steering wheel feels unnatural at first, it becomes second nature with a bit of practice.

Step 5: Ending the Drift

This step requires letting the drift run out or taking your foot off the throttle to help straighten the vehicle. While this is a little tricky initially, it becomes easier to know what actions are required to stop the car from drifting.

Techniques that will get you drifting like a pro

Reaching Polish drifter Bartosz Ostalowski’s Guinness World record speed of 143.9 mph is a drifter’s dream, but you can only get there by practicing different techniques to improve your drifting skills. 

Successive slides. 

You can try successive drifts when you get the hang of your drifting technique. To do this, you keep the power of the first drift and repeat the process. The car will swing beneath you, you catch it and move into the next slide. 

Braking drift. 

You perform this drift by braking before the corner to push the car’s weight to the front wheels. The back wheels will rise and lose traction. You then use a combination of shifting and braking to balance the car. 

Swaying drift, aka Choku-Dori.

With this technique, you use your countersteer and throttle to sway the car’s weight back and forth while moving on a straight road. 

Tips for the perfect drift: 

• Approach turns at a reasonable speed. 
• Use both the steering wheel and throttle to maintain control. 
• Stay on the throttle and keep the car in a controlled slide. 
• Keep your eyes ahead so you maintain focus and see upcoming corners. 
• Accelerate through the turn to help you keep control and maintain the optimal drift angle. 
• Lower gears produce tighter turns. 
• If you lose control or start spinning out, use your handbrake to correct the drift. 

Sliding With the Pros

These days, many car clubs and automakers offer promotional events where you can learn to drift and drive at the limit with instruction from professionals. It’s amazing how much you’ll learn in a single day of drills designed to teach you to drift.

More than a few automotive journalists have taken the plunge with pro drifting school and come back raving about it. On a recent episode of Amazon’s The Grand Tour, host Richard Hammond featured a school with BMW, and Neil from the Car Throttle website put his skill to the test at Goodwood’s very own drift experience.

You don’t need a media pass to access these events. Contact the local car clubs and tracks to see where you can get some lap time in with professional instruction. Practice will drastically improve your performance.

With Enough Practice, You Can Drift Like a Pro!

Now that you’re a fully qualified driftmeister, it’s important to remember the responsibility that comes with your title. Yes, I know that 90-degree right through the neighborhood by your local high school just calls out to you on rainy mornings, but you never know when a school bus is going to come rollicking up the blacktop.

When you want to drift, do it in a controlled environment. Even the tamest car by today’s standards is capable of speeds and slip angles that can lead to serious accidents, and it’s no fun driving around nervously on city streets, poaching corners, afraid to flatten someone’s cat.

The exhilarating feeling of controlled chaos from drifting is unmatched. With the proper techniques and practice, you will be on your way to drifting like a pro. 

Originally posted 11/8/2023 — 4/16/2025