How to drift/ what is the technique for drifting in this game?

I know this probably comes off as a really dumb question but, what is the proper way to drift in Forza? I can drift cars in real-life, but the ability to do so in Forza has eluded me.
If anyone has any tips or tricks, help a member out! haha

Well…
You just do like in real life.
Scandinavian flick, handbrake, clutch kick or floor it.
Setup is importent. Its not as easy to drift stock cars.

some people actually recommend starting to learn on stock cars, most RWD cars with more than 400 hp can drift stock. pick up a 2015 mustang and just try to get it to power over (power over = giving the wheels enough horsepower that it breaks the grip and swings the back end around)

make sure your traction control is OFF! and use manual transmission.

this game feels very different from most racing games, in my mind it feels better/more realistic and feels a lot like the physics in forza 3, that means that youll have to drift a little differently than other games though.

check out some real life how to drift videos to learn how drifting works and different entry techniques

this is the all time best how to drift video witht he real drift king (remember the drift king from tokyo drift? this is the guy they got that name from and he did all the stunt driving in tokyo drift)

The drift bible is the core fundamentals of drifting study them and master it and you will do well

Lose the rece slicks if you have them.
600HP is plenty
Do alignment like your real car.

You can do a really hard shift lock if you tap the e-brake at the same time as the downshift. (good for rotating the car quickly.)

Add me and I’ll help online.

2 Likes

hm…I run mid range to low end power (400-450) light weight cars, and just stick with the basics, allows me to stick to people’s doors. Don’t cram a lot of power in your car…especially if your struggling already…it just makes you look sloppy. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

1 Like

Im just a beginner but i feel i have information i would like to share:
Make a Pro-2 class Formula Drift car. They are 2900+ lbs with max. 260mm wide tires, so you’re gonna need 400-500 hp.
As far as upgrades, i do stock brakes or the drilled rotor brakes, (the ceramic race ones can adjust your bias but they clamp down really hard while hardly even braking, makes left foot braking harder)
Rally suspension, it gives you a tiny bit more angle and you can input realistic spring rates (All Nissan S-Chassis BC-Racing coil-overs are 448 lb/in front and 336 lb/in rear or 8k and 5k)
i just do sport front sway-bar (unless you want to get really complex with adjustable race sway-bars)
then ill do a full cage, race transmission, sport clutch, race diff, and get it as close to 53% weight distribution as possible (my preference)

For the tune: this is where it gets technical. People in FD are gluing tires to their bead so they can run like 8-12 psi in the rear tires. They only use DOT tires (street tire equivelent)
however i run 20 psi rear and 28 psi front if they are street tires (In FH3 my rally tires on my horizon edition silvia are only 205mm wide at 55PSI)
“Standard FD stuff” includes a track-use-only G-force GSR 4 speed NASCAR Sequential Transmission. they custom-make straight-cut gears for you:
1: 2.12-3.00
2: 1.85-2.15
3: 1.40-1.87
4: 1.0
For alignment, grassroots guys run a lot more camber than FD guys, FD guys are around -2.2 front and -.5 rear with 7 degrees of positive caster. You’re gonna want like 3/8" of toe-out on the front which = 0.4 degrees and 0.1 degrees toe-in on the rear. FD guys run a tiny bit of toe-in on the rear to help induce steering angle whilst mid-drift.
Many people make a crucial mistake of slamming their car, lower it an inch with a front a tiny higher than the rear.
Damping is where this get the most tricky for tuning, id leave it alone or trust someone else if i were you, i just make it 9.9, 9, 8, 7.5, idk what the shock is, if its the same shock on all vehicles or what.
Dont do any adjustable aero unless you want a spoiler and lip, then id do it all the way to speed for less downforce, its near inapplicable while sideways anyways.
I just do my diff 100% Acc. and Dec. Its like a Welded differential, or a full-spool winters differential.
Hope this helps! if you’re using the clutch way too much then it might be too much power. PS: i am a wheel user, tune might be different for controller players i don’t know.//

Just for reference teams aren’t using glue because its illegal (people have been fined for doing it, but it will still be attempted most likely)

Alignment settings are way off as well, we run positive camber in the rear… when the car squats under load it zeros out or is slightly negative depending on the track. Theres also more than 1/2" of toe in the rear.

1 Like

(Deleted so my post isn’t massive)

This is VERY different from how I run my baseline tunes on controller, which have no basis in reality, I just felt this method out through trial and error. Thought I’d put my 2 cents in.

Tires ~ 28psi front, 27psi rear
Camber: 1.0° both front and rear
Gear ratio is usually left alone, unless I feel like it’s drastically too long or short. I like to be in 3rd for most corners, let’s me move up or down to fix mistakes etc.
.1° of toe in on front, rear is left alone
Spring rate equal front and rear, ride height slammed
Damping and sway bars are done very imprecisely, move the sliders up and down a bit till it feels right
For monster builds on tracks like alps, adjustable aero set all the way to grip for max downforce.
Diff is locked 100%
Braking is set for 70% front bias

As far as the build, I just max everything in chassis and drivetrain, sport tires at max width, and then in the engine, it really varies by vehicle. 500-1000 bhp depending on weight and size. Might do a swap, might not. I’ve also noticed the Rocket Bunny Widebody kits allow for wider wheels than normal, as well as a slight offset.

Closest to a welded diff is 50% accelerate 0% decelerate
50% is both wheel getting 50% all of the time.

another comment on the tune above, i dont like locked differential, its too chaotic. i prefer 80% accel and 20% decel

I run a more realistic setup.
Base:
Tire pressure:
Front: 26-28 - check how the pressure develops when drifting, should be between 32-33 for best grip.
Rear: 23-24 - ^ same as above
Alignment:
Front: -1,5 to -2.5. I know people use more IRL, like -3 to -4, but for some reason it doesnt seem to do good in this game.
Rear: -0.0 to -0,5. This is what they do IRL, atleast FD drifters. Why? To get more forward bite and tire wear.
Toe:
Front: +0.1 - Irl they use like 1/8-inch, max 1/4-inch toe out. This is like… 0.1 to 0.2 in the game?
Rear: -0.1 - ^ same as above, really.
Caster:
7

Anti Roll bars is always an interesting subject.
Front: 30-37,5 Ive seen some videos with Chris Forsberg saying they use very stiff anti roll bars to maintain the alignment while drifting - less body roll
Rear: 20-30

Springs - Pros in FD use rather soft, how soft I dont know, but a stock Nissan S14 use like 2kg f/r. But you want a little stiffer then factory. So 8kg/6kg is what I use as a base
Front: 8kg or 447,9lbs
Rear: 6kg or 335,9lbs

Ride height is stock or max 2 inch lower.

Dampning:
Start in the middle, so 6,5. Little softer in the rear, so 6,4-6,3. Generally, a stiffer setup gives snappier transitions and responsivness.
Softer rear give more forward bite.
Softer setup gives the car a little more lean, like u lean into the drift. Slower transitions and less respons.

Diff? Locked. 100/100

Recommend checking these out:

http://www.motoiq.com/Tech/BasicDriftCarSetup.aspx

Formula Drift - Engineering A Drift Car - YouTube

i actually just tried experimenting with a low caster angle, i know its totally counter to what ever tuning guide says, but i just put a 4.5 degree front camber with a 2 caster, and the low caster helps my front wheel stay vertical while counter steering. i kinda like the low caster angle, you guys should try playing around with it.

I’d recommend getting into a car with around 300-350hp mostly stock and learning the physics of the game. Then build up from there and worrying about setups and such. Setups don’t make you better skill wise. You can have the best setup that’s possible for you and still suck if you can’t control it at the full potential.

Well… This is just a game, not real life.
If you have the basic skills, a setup is very importent and can really make a huge difference

Setups do matter once you know what you want and need, but if you can’t drift with a basic car then a setup isn’t going to make you a professional at it. Throwing all these numbers and real life setups at someone that is starting out is silly.

yeah, i agree. also what set up works for different people is very personal to your style of drifting. once you start to get the hang of drifting, then start playing with your tune, i recommend learning to tune yourself, it really gives you a sense of ownership over the car when youve spent hours tuning the car and then some tweaks over the course of weeks. once you get the hang of drifting stock cars, or get some classic drift cars like the miata, or the 240sx and keep it mostly stock, but add some handling and transmission upgrades and just a little bit of power (like just upgrade the intake and the exhaust, maybe a couple other small things just to give it enough power to break traction… but just start small, and add a little bit at a time. its a game, but its also got a simulator style to it, so no one is going to be able to jump in a 700hp beast and throw it sideways and expect to be able to handle it, no matter what the set up is.

In FM3 I drifted a Silvia and the Celica Supra, in FM4 I drifted a 240 and AE86, in FM5 and FM6 I drifted an AE86. Horizon 2 and 3 I drifted an AE86. All of these cars were between 400hp and 500hp with stock or street tires.

I havn’t tried to drift tune anything yet in FM7 but the homologation 2016 RJ Anderson #37 Polaris RZR-Rockstar Energy Pro 2 Truck drifts like a dream, I know probably not something you want to use as a drift car but it is fun to drive. I bought it for the Trophy Truck Seeker series event so am just running the default homologation tune on it.

Why only run two cars per game? Variety is the spice of life.