Now I know that most of you guys think that I'm going to ask for NO2 and neon lights, but I'm not. I'm asking for a simple bit of advice. When I try to drift, around anything-a track or custom course-I always seem to spin too much and face the way I came from. I've been practising for ages and can not get it.. If I try not as much gas, the car drive straight into a wall, if I put more gas I spin more, if I put as much steering in as possible, nothing happens, and if I don't steer as much, I go into a wall. I've been practicing for like 2-3 months now, so don't tell me to keep practicing. What do I need to do to stop spinning?
Posting a replay of your driving would help, before seeing what you're actually doing there's not much to say other than practice more and setup the car properly.
Driving a 4WD won't teach you anything about true drifting. A tweaked high powered car requires good throttle control, so that's not much use for a beginner either.
Learn with a conventional RWD car like XRT, or even XRG. Low powered car is good for getting around the basics, as it's more forgiving with throttle control, leaving you more room to concentrate on your steering while simply flooring the accelerator.
Like said above, get (or make) a proper drift setup.
It is a bit strange that you, after 2-3 months of practise, still do not master (or at least manage) drifting. What controller do you use? Axis throttle/clutch? I'd say it'll take you a day to get into the concept and then it's just a matter of getting better and finding that total control and balance between tyre wear and applied force and countersteer. Do you drive IRL?
You must be doing something totally wrong, so I hope you get it right soon enough!
Take out the xrg first. (xrt,rb4 later; fz50 much later)
Good thing you asked here, first.
Pardon my not-so tactful assumption. Your question makes it sound as if you might not have spent much time yet getting to know the underlying principles of vehicle- and driving dynamics.
Keep in mind that LFS - as much as its function is that of a recreational game - is meant to be an accurate simulation of real race craft based on a physics model that gives results as close to the real thing as possible.
Thus I would suggest:
Take your time to experiment with it. And from time to time take a pause to evaluate your own driving. Single player replays are best suited to get a glimpse from an outside perspective. The forces-display is helpful, as well.
Additionally it might be a good idea to search on youtube for the all-famous "drift bible" - video by Keiichi Tsuchia. Pay a little bit of attention to what he presents us with when in the little red AE86
Next you absolutely should familiarize yourself with the term LSD, it's different types - and try out what lfs offers there. Same set-up, different type of LSD (if not a statically locked axle to begin with) and different preload can have quite an effect on the driving technique you need in order to control the car.
Another Top-Tip: Try out the FE-rally-cross tracks first. Especially the small sprint-track "RX-green" with it's tarmac main straight. Learn to Feel the difference of the track surface. You might actually benefit from some longer stints in road-racing: tires do respond differently when mildly warmed up or hot. Hint: in hot lap-mode you can pre-heat the tires in the pits.
Always try to keep track of where the cars "weight" is sent to and at what magnitude of load the tires are gripping or scratching.
at the end comes a small disclaimer: I'm not actually a "drifter". However, getting to practice it a little didn't exactly hurt my driving.
Plus: lfs is not yet finished. There are changes and improvements in the works regarding the physics model - although nobody knows when they will actually be released, yet. So my guess is to learn and understand what's actually happening with the car when driving/drifting will be very beneficial, especially when those changes eventually hit the open.
I will try to make one, and upload it somewhere that you can watch..
I am using a Logitech G27 wheel, with clutch and 6 speed shifter. I do drive IRL, manual, but 5 series BMW. I am using a mix of XRT & FZ5. I like the FZ5 as it allows me to floor it most of the time and get through, but what I am doing is only power sliding, I can not hold a massive angled drift say around the ring of the Kyoto ring, or after the straight at Blackwood. I get to the corner, slow right down, hand brake to swing the car when the tyres are cool, or try and 'fling' the weight of the car when they are hot, and when I go through, I get through most of it but then the car keeps going and it spins and I end up facing the way I came from, even if I completely let go of the throttle..
I have seen the 'drift bible' videos on YT, both the LFS one, the red AE86 one, and a bit of the hour long one. I just cannot seem to break out of what I am doing and try what they are doing.. I will post up a video in a while..
Well, practice. From the beginning. Try Fern Bay rather than kyoto, gold rev for example. Try to do "power-overs" like in the drift bible, go in the corner slowly and add throttle at the end of it to slide the rear out. In LFS, you don't need to use e-brake to initiate a drift, a fling is enough even if you have cold tyres. (Just transfer the weight of the car and lift off the throttle, the car will slide.)
Also, it would be good if you set up your wheel properly, I think that 720° wheel radius is the best for starting. (you can move to 900 if you wish)
BTW, if your tyres are too hot, it's harder to control the drift. You need to go much more slowly and use less throttle in the corners, maybe that's why you always spin.
There's already plenty of great advices mentioned in here, so i'm not going to repeat any of that. But what i would like to add additionally what also matters is you should have your wheel configurated and settled up properly.
You can always explore and see what suits you the most, but a good value to start with that most people use:
FFB / Spring / Damping / Centerspring / Degrees
105% / 0 / 0 / 0 / 720 (35% ingame)
This combo works on most degrees values very well, and you can add some centringspring if you feel that suits and help you out. But having too much on that, will kinda make the wheel drift for you. So i recommend not going over 45%, but it's a matter of taste.
Also i would like to add that if your interested and dedicated to drifting, you should take a visit at www.LFSDrift.net where you can find more advices and people who share the same interest.
The settings Novak mention works best for me on G25. I am only demo racer and have obly one RWD car and Blackwood, so I had a lot of time to mes around.
a shorter diff ratio works well and play with the ackerman affect a bit, helped me. On the low power RWD car, lock up oversteer does the trick every time, well for as long as the engine last
may u have my problem 3weeks spin with steer wheel i was a pro in keyboard i bouth wheel and spin all the time i freak out ...and then i forgot to CALIBRET my wheel in game settings and voala in 3th day i was a pro all ready i hope i help u
i hope i help u