Drift racing games

Drifting is a controlled slide. The rear of the car loses grip on purpose, the nose points one way while the car travels another, and the driver steers into the slide to hold it. Games treat that idea in a few different ways.

Three ways games use drifting

• Scored drift events. Points are awarded for slide angle, speed and how long the slide lasts, often with a multiplier that resets when you touch a wall. Some Need for Speed games include drift among their race types, next to drag and point-to-point races.
• A cornering tool. In kart racing, drifting is part of how you take a bend. In the Mario Kart series, drifting is listed alongside mini-turbos (short speed boosts), slipstreaming and rocket starts as one of the driving techniques.
• Arcade handling. Some games let the car slide easily with a handbrake button and forgiving grip, so the slide is a style choice rather than a skill test.

One-tap drifting

A small family of games boils drifting down to a single input. While you hold the button, the vehicle turns one way. When you let go, it swings the other way. Speed is looked after for you, so the whole game is timing: when to press, how long to hold, and when to let go.

Tracks in these games are usually narrow ribbons with sharp corners and no barriers, so an early or late press means a fall off the edge and the run is over. The corner shapes are the difficulty setting: long gentle bends forgive mistakes, while quick zigzags and right-angle turns demand a steady rhythm.

Tips for one-tap games

• Press and release on the corner, not on the car. Look a little ahead of the vehicle.
• Short taps suit tight sequences. Long holds suit wide arcs.
• If you keep overshooting, release a touch earlier rather than pressing harder.
• Find the beat of an alternating section and keep to it, instead of reacting to every corner separately.

Learning to drift in a regular racing game

Start with a wide, slow corner and a car with moderate power. Turn in, add throttle until the rear steps out, then steer toward where you want the car to go. Too much steering makes the car spin, too little throttle lets the grip come back. Practice a single corner until the slide is repeatable before you chase a score. Many games let you switch assists on or off, and a stability or traction aid can be turned down once the basics feel natural.