Three ways to start a slide: handbrake, power and lift-off

There are three reliable ways to start a drift in Slipline Garage: tap the handbrake while turning in, apply a burst of power mid-corner, or lift off the throttle sharply as you turn. All three work because they reduce the grip available at the rear tires at the moment you ask the car to change direction.

Side-by-side

Technique	How	Best for	Risk
Handbrake	Turn in, tap Space for about 0.25 s	Tight corners, low speed, learning	Held too long, it kills speed and spins
Power-over	Turn in, then full throttle	Medium corners, powerful cars	Too much power and the car keeps rotating
Lift-off	Turn in, release the throttle abruptly	Fast sweepers	Gentle; may not be enough in a grippy car

Handbrake

The handbrake locks the rear wheels. A locked tire has far less sideways grip than a rolling one — in this game between 36% and 42% of normal, depending on the car — so the tail steps out immediately.

• Steer first, then tap. Without steering, a handbrake just slows you down.
• Keep it short. A quarter of a second is plenty.
• You lose speed. That makes it ideal for hairpins, where you want to slow down anyway.

This is the method Lesson 3 teaches first, because it works in every car at every speed above about 40 km/h.

Power-over

Every car here is rear-wheel drive. The rear tires share their grip between pushing the car forward and holding it sideways. Ask for a lot of drive while cornering and there is not enough left to hold the line.

• It needs torque. The Foundry and Vector do it almost anywhere. The Finch needs to be in the lower half of its speed range.
• It keeps your speed up, which is good for score: the speed factor is part of every point.
• It is progressive. More throttle, more angle. That makes it the natural way to adjust a slide you have already started.

Lift-off

Under acceleration, weight sits over the rear wheels. Lift off suddenly and it shifts forward: the front tires gain grip, the rear tires lose some, and the car tucks its nose in.

• It is subtle, and best at speed on long corners such as Canyon Loop’s sweepers.
• A touch of brake as you turn in makes the effect stronger.
• It costs almost no speed.

Combining them

Experienced players chain them: lift to unsettle the car, a tap of handbrake to commit, then power to hold. On Skyline Deck, where corners arrive quickly, a handbrake tap gets the car turned and power-over keeps the chain alive to the next one.

Which one for which corner

Corner	Example	Suggested start
Hairpin	Harbor Circuit, by the cranes	Handbrake
Medium 90°	Skyline Deck	Handbrake, then power
Long sweeper	Canyon Loop	Lift-off, then power
Open space	Academy Yard ring	Any — practice all three

Once the slide has started, what happens next is the same every time: countersteer, balance with throttle, and exit clean. For choosing where on the road to begin, see drifting lines.

Back to the drifting games overview.