Harbor Circuit
Harbor Circuit is a 672-metre loop between container stacks on a working quay. It has the longest straight in the game, a long hairpin at the far end, and a quick change of direction beside the gantry cranes. It is the default track for Quick Drift and a good first circuit after the yard.
| Lap length | 672 m |
|---|---|
| Road width | 15 m |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Clipping zones | 5 |
| Gates per lap | 8 |
| Character | One fast section, then four corners in quick succession. Speed is easy to find on the quay and easy to carry too far into the hairpin. |
Corner by corner
Positions are percentages of the lap, counted from the start line in the direction of travel.
The quay straight · Start to 28%
Over a quarter of the lap is straight. Nothing scores here unless you weave, and weaving costs entry speed. Use it to reach around 100 km/h and to pick your braking point.
East hairpin · 28% to 50%
A long right with a radius of about 18 metres and two clipping zones on the inside edge, one at the entry and one halfway round. Brake in a straight line, turn in, tap the handbrake, and an early slide collects both zones in one chain.
The crane flick · 51% to 62%
The track switches straight from the hairpin into a left. Finish the right-hand slide early, lift, and let the car swing. The only left-edge zone on the track sits at the entry, on the inside of the left.
South loop · 63% to 79%
Back to the right, tighter this time at about 14 metres, with a zone at the entry. A chain carried through the flick can be extended here; stay on part throttle and resist adding angle.
Final corners · 79% to the line
A short left, a brief straight, then the tightest corner on the track: a 13-metre right with a zone at its entry. Take the left tidily and save the slide for the right.
Walls, runoff and recovery
Concrete barriers on both sides with 3.5 metres of runoff. Runoff has less grip and does not score.
Pressing R in a timed run returns the car to the last of the track’s 8 gates you passed, stationary, with the live chain cleared and scoring paused for a second and a half. In Free Drive it returns you to the nearest point on the track instead.
Common mistakes
- Arriving at the hairpin too fast and sliding into the outside wall.
- Holding the handbrake through the hairpin instead of tapping it.
- Carrying full angle into the flick, leaving no time to switch.
Which car
The Meridian suits its mix of speeds. The Brisk is provided for the transitions challenge, the Longbow for the long chain, and the heavy Foundry for the Harbor Master exam. The numbers behind those characters are in six cars compared.
What to practice first
Lesson 6: Transitions. The crane flick is a transition, and getting it right links the two halves of the lap. All eight are on the Drift Academy page, and drifting lines explains where to place the car in any corner.
The six challenges here
| Challenge | Judged on | Car | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quayside Run | Drift score | Your choice | 4,600 | 9,100 | 15,200 |
| Container Apexes | Zones clipped | Your choice | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Crane Flick | Linked transitions | Brisk | 4 | 8 | 13 |
| Hairpin to Hairpin | Longest chain | Longbow | 550 | 1,100 | 1,850 |
| Dock Shift | Weakest lap score | Your choice | 400 | 800 | 1,300 |
| Harbor Master | Combined result | Foundry | 1,100 | 2,200 | 3,600 |
Thresholds were set from completed runs by the game’s reference driver: gold is what it managed, silver is 60% of that and bronze 30%. A practiced human should beat it. How each result is calculated is in drift scoring explained.