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While building the GT4 1/4 Mile
Guide, Andy R worked on
the following drifting
guide which should hopefully
enable you to become a
master at drifting, or
at least on the way to
becoming one! If it doesn't,
then either you haven't
read this guide, or you
read it upside down -
which is a completely
different language when
seen like that, hence
why you're confused with
the majority of what you've
read.
So to help, this is
an upside down car in Gran Turismo 5. If the scenery
appears upside down and the car the right way
up, please rotate your monitor 180 degrees (either
right or left, doesn't really matter).
PIC CREDIT TO Jar31Lar
FROM GTPLANET.NET. HE ROLLED A MCLAREN F1 AND
LIKELY KEPT ON DRIVING IT (WHILE STILL UPSIDE
DOWN) AFTERWORDS. HARDCORE!
Great, now you can
continue reading this page and actually understand
it!
DRIFTING IN
GT4
By Andy R (like Andy's GT3
drift guide, no funny stuff from me during the
below sections! Whatever shall i do instead? :()
With
the mechanics of car physics having changed once
again (from GT3) it is now a bit different if
you are building a car specifically to drift for
GT4. However, armed with the right knowledge,
tune-up parts and settings it is possible to get
the majority of FR cars in the game to drift well.
I
have personally tried drifting with all the different
views and settings and controller configurations
there are, and I have found that the most helpful
and easy-to use configuration is the behind car
view. This allows you to see exactly where the
front and back ends of the car are positioned
on the track, something that isn't possible with
the front and roof mounted views. Whilst it isn't
impossible to drift with these views it is hard
to judge things like when to counter steer to
stop the car spinning out.
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Drifting
involves entering a corner at a sideways angle
whilst moving at speed, where the rear of the
vehicle “hangs out” towards the outside
of the corner and the nose of the car is pointed
in towards the apex (inside of the corner). The
ability to get this angle before, during and after
the corner is due to several factors, of which
some or all can be utilized to drift a car. Those
factors are
- Application of
Torque (twisting force)
- Suspension setup (bounce, rebound, stiffness)
- Tyre grip (or lack of)
- Use of handbrake (if needed)
For
example, I have a very well setup drift car in
my 1970 Chevrolet Camaro 302. This early 70's
American car comes standard with a 5 litre V8
(187 kW/420Nm), good chassis layout and is RWD.
However, the car has sloppy suspension, a 4 speed
manual gearbox with wide ratios and a standard
(not LSD) diff. Not good for drifting, unless
first gear skids are your thing.
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After
going on a shopping spree at Chevrolet, I found
myself with a much more powerful Camaro that now
had the ability to drift almost any track in the
game. The car itself hasn't been excessively modified
for horsepower, more for a strong torque curve
than anything else. The supercharger bolted to
the engine provides a massive boost to the (previously
sluggish) low RPM area, and the car can generate
a strong 775Nm from 3000 rpm. What this means
is that the car can be shifted up gears whilst
drifting higher-speed tracks without the rear
wheels gaining too much traction - each gear
change drops the revs back into this huge torque
surge and the car can continue to defeat traction
even at high speeds. As it is, 5th
gear will wheel spin all the way up to 165mph
in a straight line, which is testament to the
supercharged V8’s torque.
If
I found that the car needed more however, I could
go to the extent of playing with the individual
gear ratios, but generally speaking I just play
with either the final drive (diff) ratio or move
the auto settings for gears up or down. This isn't
drag racing, so it doesn't need to be that precise!
Also, if you do choose to drift high speed tracks
its wise to install a Nitrous setup, as this can
assist with breaking traction at higher speeds,
due to its massive torque assistance properties.
I usually enter corners in third gear to start
drifting on small/medium tracks but on large tracks
i'm sometimes entering the corner in 4th
or 5th gear, with the Nitrous on to
get the car sideways. As the Camaro makes
approx. 1050Nm at 3000rpm with the Nitrous on
you can see why it’s not hard to get sideways!
Special
Note
- If you are turbo-charging the engine you wish
to use, then remember - a stage 3-4 turbocharger
is going to have a large torque deficiency at
low-mid rpm if used on a smaller engine, but if
its available buy the stage 5 turbo as it provides
the same top end as the stage 4 but with huge
low-end response (torque). Horsepower however
is not critical here - I have a 230 hp (stage
2 turbocharged) Toyota Sprinter that can out drift
almost any car in the game - it does this by making
excellent midrange torque for its given size/weight/layout.
Synopsis
- Strong mid-range torque is better than a
peaky top end. Make it so that each upward gear-change
drops the revs back into the torque producing
area of the rev range.
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Here's
where things can get tricky. The general consensus
is that the front should be firm, the back should
be fairly solid to help with loss of sideways
(lateral) grip and the front wheels should have
a bit of camber to help with steering at large
angles. However, the setup of each and every car
is entirely different, and it’s all got to
do with traction and torque application (once
again!). A good way to develop a driftable package
is to go purchase a RWD car that you like. Equip
it with the following parts and take it out to
a certain track that you think will be good for
drift. I am personally a big fan of Suzuka east
section (the very small section) from the ”World
Circuits” menu, as its got seven big sweeping
corners that stay at the same radius and which
link from one direction to another near the top
of the course.
Parts
you DO need
- Custom suspension - Infinite adjustability
- Custom gearbox - Infinite adjustability
- Custom differential - Set initial and acceleration
both to 60 (“locker diff”)
- Stage 1 or 2 flywheel - To help make gear-shifts
quicker
- Triple clutch - Make gearshifts more solid,
helps maintain wheelspin on up-shifts
- All weight reduction mods - Stops car from
sliding out on corners (inertia)
- Nitrous - Big torque multiplier, assists
with loss of traction in all gears
- ‘Sports’ tyre's - Easy enough
to spin, but still provide decent steering response
- Stage 1, 2, 3 or 5 turbo's - These turbo's
have good low rpm response
- Superchargers - Although restrictive up
top, they produce huge torque at low rpm
Parts
you DON’T need
- Stage 3 flywheel - Makes engine
response very on/off
- Stage 4 turbo's - Lack of torque at low
rpm, any other turbo is better
- All standard drive-train parts - Gearbox,
clutch, diff etc. Not adjustable!
- Slicks - Too much grip, won’t get enough
angle
- Ballast - Weight = too much pull towards
outside of corner
For
the 302 Camaro, Here's how I turned it into a
drift weapon
- Spring rate: 50% front, 75% rear
- Dampers: 4 for bounce and rebound front/rear
- Front Camber: 2.7 degrees
- Rear Camber: 0.5 degrees
- Swaybars: Front 5, Rear 7
- Differential: 60/60/20
- Gearing: Auto Setting 7, final drive ratio
3.23
- Front Tyre's: Soft Standard
- Rear Tyre's: Medium Standard
- Nitrous: Set to 50 hp (est. 1050+Nm with
Nitrous on!)
As
can be seen, I moved the suspension to a state
of firm springs for the front, and equipped the
front with soft compound sports tyre's This allows
for nice precise turn in, coupled with the camber
adjustments that help steering stability at large
angles of steering lock.
The
rear is designed to step out under power, with
the harder set springs, solid rear sway-bars,
less grip (medium) sports tyre's and the tightened-up
diff. Doing these adjustments to the diff makes
the inside wheel try to rotate at the same speed
as the outside when entering a corner. As soon
as throttle is applied both wheels rotate at the
same speed as each other, and due to the inside
wheel breaking traction first the car steps out
sideways quickly and can hold large drifting angles
for longer.
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This
is the part that matters most, and is the part
that most people have problems with. In GT4, the
physics engine is quite advanced, yet it displays
a few weird tendencies, one of which is that it
seems to always try to straighten the car up.
This is why most people have trouble with spinning
out, as they hold opposite steering lock for too
long, the car slows down, the drift angle becomes
very shallow and the car flicks out the opposite
direction. The following is a list of what I do
as i'm about to drift a corner. *This is regardless
of the type of car i'm using!*
1.
Remain out wide, maintain normal cruising speed
2. Approaching the start of the corner, turn in
with a sharp flick motion (lots of steering) and
simultaneously give it full throttle to break
traction
3. As the rear swings around, keep accelerating,
and if possible shift up a gear or two. While
doing this, counter steer to stop the car spinning
out, but only for a short while
4. As you are sliding through the corner, do not
hold full steering lock - go from full steering
lock to neutral to full lock etc
5. If you want more tail out, use less counter
steering - the back will keep going round, if
you need to stop it going around too much, hold
the steering on lock for a little longer
6. As you exit the corner you can either back
off or straighten up (or both) to stop the drifting
motion, or you can keep going and try to drift
into the next corner in one continuous motion
(this is called “linking”)
As
a general rule, the higher the wheel speed is
in relation to the road, the longer you can hold
a drift, and the less traction the tyre's will
have on the road, making bigger sliding angles
easier to get. The only downside is that higher
rear wheel speed means that the car may become
a bit unstable (hard to balance in a controlled
drift), whereas with a lower gear it isn't so
bad. If you find a particular gear to be a bit
of a “knife-edge” to drift with then
you should probably drop down a gear to provide
more stability. With higher wheel speeds the car
will be less resistant to straightening up as
well, which helps when trying to link corners
with large distances between them as the car will
stay “loose” as you exit the corner.
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Cars
with smaller capacity or non turbo/supercharged
engines may find themselves lacking in torque,
therefore getting that initial sideways motion
can be hard as the car doesn't have enough torque
at cruising speed to simply spin the rear wheels.
Enter the handbrake. This wonderful device is
purely there (in game terms) to get the back of
the car around sharp corners, and as such its
great for snapping the back around quickly to
initiate some drift. This helps less torque-productive
cars to drift by allowing the driver to quickly
lock the rear wheels as they turn into the apex
of a corner - as the handbrake is applied the
engine disengages from the gearbox (i.e. as if
you put your foot on the clutch) and can be allowed
to free rev as hard as it wants, usually bashing
against the rev limiter.
When
the sideways motion/loss of grip has been achieved
the handbrake button is let go, and the engine
then starts powering the rear wheels - the sideways
sliding motion coupled with the high engine revs
is usually enough to get the rear wheels spinning
quite well.
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Try
these remedies one at a time to see how each one
works.
Having
trouble getting drift into a corner
- Use Nitrous to assist with breaking traction
- Use handbrake
- Adjust corner-entry gear to be right on torque
peak at entry speed when powering into corner
Car
spins out every time I get sideways
- If possible, reduce weight further
- Run softer rear tyre's
- Run softer rear spring rates
- Slow your entry speed into the corner
- Go for a lower gear (less wheel-speed)
- Run less Acceleration setting on differential
Car
won’t get enough angle, tries to run straight
- Higher rear spring rate
- Run harder rear tyre's
- Drop rear damper settings for bound/rebound
by 1 increment
- Increase rear camber slightly
Unstable
when entering/ exiting corner
- Lower car height to 20% of allowable height
- Decrease camber on front tyre's
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Fishtailing/car
refuses to straighten up
- When exiting a corner drifting a big power
car you might find that the car refuses to fully
straighten up, and it remains slightly sideways
(this is if you are still on the throttle, and
in a high gear). Even with enough steering input
to straighten the car it remains slightly sideways
while wheel-spinning, and whilst trying to correct
it feels like the car is fighting your attempts
to straighten it up. I found this is especially
prevalent with hugely powerful cars (Supra, GTO
etc.) that can rev out with long gearing. As you
exit the corner the wheels are spinning at a huge
amount more than the road underneath and the sideways
inertia that the car had during the slide is continued
by this huge amount of wheel-spin, forcing the
car to continue turning.
Linking
corners
- This involves sliding through a corner,
continuing the wheel-spin and ‘fishies’
up to the next corner, whereby you throw the car
in again and keep going. Linking corners can be
a hard thing to master, as it involves coming
out of a corner with reduced traction and control
and then having to put the car into position to
slide through another corner, sometimes in the
opposite direction to the corner last drifted.
The main challenge comes from the fact that when
exiting a corner that you've just drifted its
most likely that you will have more speed than
when you first entered it. This speed means that
you might misjudge the entry to the next corner,
overshoot or carry too much speed.
The
way to go about this is to reduce the speed coming
into the next corner - throw the car into the
corner a little bit earlier than you would have
the first corner and drop down a gear or two,
letting the wheel-speed drop. This allows you
to continue to drift through the corner, but with
much less sideways momentum (which would normally
pull the car off the track). A basic rule of thumb
is that the faster you approach a corner to drift,
the earlier you should turn in to initiate that
drift.
‘Clutching’
- If a car requires wheel-spin in the current
gear at a given speed but it’s not revving
hard enough or at the right rpm to do so, you
can use the handbrake to give the revs a quick
increase. This allows the car to flare its revs
up to the point where more power and torque is
made, possibly allowing it to wheel-spin…
in essence it’s the same as a handbrake,
but this is usually used on straight stretches
of road, and its only when you briefly brush the
handbrake button.
Grabbing
neutral
- Another handbrake button feature, this is
something that can be used if you have a large
corner to drift. It involves building some speed,
getting into a high gear and then when you are
just above your corner entry speed, quickly tap
the neutral button and let go of the accelerator.
The gear indicator (to show what gear you are
in) will go grey, to show you haven't got the
clutch engaged. This allows you o then select
a gear to drift into a corner with (if its too
low a gear though, the clutch will engage and
lock up the rear wheels) and you can then roll
towards the corner and turn in. As you then hit
the throttle, the engine will free-rev hard up
to the point where the engine/gearbox speed is
equal to the road speed, and at that point the
clutch locks up solid, transmitting torque to
the drive wheels. This is usually violent enough
to generate wheel-spin even at higher revs.
However,
this is little more than a gimmick unless you
have tried everything else to drift at high speeds
- its realistically just an alternative to handbrakies,
whereby the rear wheels can continue to rotate.
But if you get this ability down-pat it can make
your initial turn in angles a lot more impressive,
as the car can go from no power at the rear wheels
to full power instantly, generating huge drift.
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Pontiac
GTO
- 770 hp/990Nm V8, very good for larger drift
tracks. Massive torque peak at 3500rpm, sharp
chassis handling.
FPV
F6 Typhoon
- 702 hp/878Nm turbocharged 6, also suited to
large tracks. Has huge torque surge at 3000rpm,
neutral chassis.
Toyota
Sprinter/Trueno
- 230 hp/325Nm turbocharged 4, suited to medium/
tight drift tracks, short wheelbase is great for
precise, high angle drifting.
1970
Chevrolet Camaro 302
- 485 hp/775Nm supercharged V8. Blown 5 litre
V8 delivers strong midrange punch, with exceptional
turn in and chassis stability.
Nissan
Sileighty/200SX
- 489 hp/472Nm turbocharged 4. Nice and responsive
chassis, torque-productive engine. Short wheelbase
is good for large angles.
Nissan
Skyline GTS-t (R32)
- 477 hp/465Nm turbocharged 6. Smooth ‘on-power’
drifting, due to wheel-base length and torque-curve.
Very effective when using nitrous and close gearing.
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