How To Drift A Car With An E Brake In Video Games

Drifting is a technique where the driver deliberately oversteers a car, which causes a loss of traction in the rear tires and swings the weight of the car outward while maintaining vehicle control and a smooth turn exit.

First drifting in a real car is pretty nuts and you can use the same virtual skills in games like Need For Speed, Dirt, Gran Turismo, and Forza. Each game has their own exclusive physics engine, but the techniques I will discuss here will work in any game.

The best things to do is use a rear wheel drive car with more weight distributed to the front. This will help the backend slide a big better on the track.

E Brake Drifting

E brake drifting also known as handbrake drifting is much easier to do with a standard video game controller than it is to do with a video game racing wheel, but either way it will work if you practice.

A good drift will keep your car perpendicular to the track through the turn. After your vehicle begins to slide, the rest is all about your steering and gas pedal control.

In this braking technique the drift is initiated using the E-brake.

1. Approach the turn as fast and as wide as possible
2. Initiate the drift by either jamming the brake pedal or hitting the E Brake
3. Cut the wheels towards the apex of the turn ( Back of car will lose grip)
4. Cut the wheels back toward the direction the car is sliding
5. Use 50% of the throttle to maintain the drift
6. Use the E-Brake to make small corrections to your drift angle
7. Straighten your wheels for the straightaway
8. Slowly apply more throttle for a smooth turn exit

After you get a feel for this technique you should be able to guide like a pro around any kind of corner. Bear in mind that gas and steering wheel control play extremely essential parts in drifting, and practicing the technique is the only sure fire way to get better at it.

Using the handbrake technique is usually much easier to do with a standard video game controller than a racing wheel. With a racing wheel it’s hard to hit the hand brake button while your wheel is spinning at a 900 degree rotation.

If you are looking to do drifting with a video game racing wheel it is also advised that you use manual with clutch settings. This is because there is a clutching technique that makes drifting with a racing wheel possible. It certainly isn’t easy and involves quite a bit of coordination on the part of the driver.

If you want more information on drifting video games there are a lot of resources on the net. Generally the drifting techniques are the same from game to game. You can find a more advanced guide for How to drift in Forza and use those strategies in any game. You can also find great examples of video game drift videos on Virtual Throttle.