Forza Horizon 6 How to Drift – Drifting Guide

This guide breaks down everything that actually matters: the right car to start with, the upgrades and tuning that make drifting easy, the in-game settings to flip, and the four techniques for initiating a slide. By the end, players can take any rear-wheel drive car in Forza Horizon 6 and link corners on the touge.

How to Drift: Quick Answer

Best Cars to Drift with

For those who already know how to drift, below are a few meta drifting cars and tunes for those cars, so you can get to drifting immediately. For ‘how to’, keep reading.

Drifting Techniques

Every drift in Forza Horizon 6 starts with one of four initiation techniques. Knowing which one to reach for is the difference between snapping into a clean slide and spinning into oncoming traffic.

Handbrake Initiation

The handbrake, bound to A on the controller or Spacebar on the keyboard, is the easiest and most reliable way to start a drift. Tapping it locks up the rear tires and instantly breaks traction, sending the rear end out.

For a standard corner, drive in on the racing line, ease off the gas, tap the handbrake, and counter-steer as the rear steps out. The same input also extends an existing drift if the angle starts to fade.

Flick Initiation

A flick uses weight transfer instead of the handbrake. Turn briefly away from the corner, then snap the wheel into the turn, and the suspension load yanks the rear end out behind it.

Flicks shine on faster corners where stabbing the handbrake would scrub too much speed. They take more practice than the handbrake but feel smoother once dialed in. Can be done on RWD, and the amount needed can depend on where the engine sits. (Back = less flick needed, front = more flick needed)

Clutch Kick

The clutch kick requires Manual with Clutch shifting enabled. Hold the clutch, blip the throttle to spike the RPMs, then dump the clutch to send a sudden burst of power to the rear wheels.

This technique works best on lower-horsepower cars that need help breaking traction. Pairing a clutch kick with a handbrake input on entry is a clean way to initiate at higher speeds. On higher powered cars, letting the revs drop then accelerating has similar effect.

How to Drift Step by Step

Drifting around a corner breaks down into four skills layered on top of each other. Practice them in order at the Horizon Festival drag strip before taking them to a real road.

Approach the corner in third or fourth gear. Use the braking line as a visual cue for the initiation point, then tap the handbrake or flick the wheel to send the rear end out.

Once the rear breaks loose, immediately steer the opposite way to catch it. Aim the front of the car at the inside apex of the corner rather than turning aimlessly.

Feather the throttle to keep the rear tires spinning without sending the car into a full spin. Add gas if the car is straightening up, ease off if it is rotating too far.

To link corners, lift off the throttle as the car straightens, let the weight settle, then power back on to push the rear out the other way. Add a small handbrake tap mid-transition for a sharper switch.

Choosing the Right Drift Car

Any car in Forza Horizon 6 can be tuned to drift, but the right starting point makes the entire learning curve gentler. The two factors that matter most are drivetrain and engine placement.

Drivetrain Comes First

Rear-wheel drive is the easiest layout for drifting because all the power goes to the rear tires, which is exactly what causes traction to break. All-wheel-drive cars can drift, but they need a drivetrain swap to rear-wheel drive or to run on wet roads to slide predictably.

Front-engine, rear-wheel drive is the gold standard. Mid-engine layouts like the Corvette Z06 work, but the weight balance makes them snappier and harder to recover.

Forza Drift Cars in the Autoshow

The easiest way to drift stock is to buy a Forza Drift car directly from the Autoshow. Sort by car type and scroll until the Forza Drift category appears, with cars priced between 150,000 and 500,000 credits.

These cars arrive pre-built for sliding, which means no upgrade work is required to start running Drift Zones. They pay for themselves once Skill Points and Drift Zone payouts start rolling in.

Recommended Starter Cars

The Drift Build

Upgrades dictate the direction of the build, while tuning narrows the focus. Get the upgrades wrong, and no amount of tuning will save the car, so this is where most of the work happens.

Engine and Power

Beginners should aim for 350 to 500 horsepower. That range is enough to break traction but slow enough to catch a slide before it becomes a spin.

Intermediate drift builds sit around 600 to 750 horsepower, and try-hard builds push past 1,000. A good rule of thumb is to match horsepower and torque numbers as closely as possible to keep the power delivery predictable. Apply a Race Flywheel to reach higher revs.

Turbo lag is the silent killer of drift builds. Twin turbos lag less than single turbos, superchargers have no lag at all, and naturally aspirated engines are the smoothest option. Adding Anti-Lag to a turbo build reduces the spike and keeps the car predictable.

Drivetrain

Fit a Race Clutch, a Race Transmission (six-speed), a Race Driveline, and a Drift Differential. The four-speed Drift Transmission is tempting but limits gear flexibility, so stick with six gears until you’re experienced enough to want fewer.

If the car is all-wheel drive, perform a drivetrain swap to rear-wheel drive inside the Body Kits and Conversions menu. This is non-negotiable for any AWD car being built for drifting.

Tires

Drift tires are the obvious choice and work well for almost every build. They give a predictable grip and break traction at the right point.

For a lower-grip setup, snow tires are surprisingly effective. They produce less grip than drift tires, making the car easier to keep sideways without overreacting to small inputs.

Tire width depends on power. Around 400 horsepower can run 245 front and 265 rear; mid-power builds run roughly 285 front and 295 rear; and 1,000-horsepower monsters need the fattest rear tires available for grip. Do this last after all upgrades, so you know what you require.

Suspension, Brakes, and Weight

Drift Suspension is mandatory. It slams the car, induces negative camber, and provides a usable baseline before any tuning starts.

Add Race Brakes for adjustable brake bias, Race Anti-Roll Bars front and rear for tuning, and Race Weight Reduction to make the car more agile. Skip the Roll Cage, as in past Forza titles, it has affected grip in unexpected ways.

The result should be a light, low, rear-wheel drive car with predictable power delivery.

Game Settings and Assists

The wrong assists will fight every input. Open the pause menu, head to Difficulty, and configure these before stepping into a Drift Zone.

Sim Steering is sometimes recommended for drifting, but Standard is the better default for controller players. Sim Steering only really helps with wheel users or all-wheel drive Drift Zone runs.

On controller or generally most beginners, you can avoid the clutch kick option, so you can set it to manual without clutch – It’s Q/E or X/B to shift up and down gears.

Tuning Your Drift Car

Tuning is where the car stops feeling like a race car and starts feeling like a drift car. Every value below is a strong baseline, not a religious rule, and small adjustments make a big difference.

Alignment

Front camber stays maxed at -5° for that signature drift car stance and turn-in response. Rear camber is the dial for controlling rear grip, with more negative values making the car looser.

Differential and Brake Balance

Set the differential to 100% acceleration in the rear. This locks both rear tires together so they spin at the same rate, which is essential for predictable drifts.

Deceleration can sit at 10-20% for a soft-locked diff, or be pushed to 100% for a fully welded setup. Welded diffs mimic real-world drift cars and feel more aggressive on entry.

Brake balance should shift heavily toward the front, anywhere from 70 to 100%. A front-biased brake lets the driver tap the brake mid-drift to tighten the line without spinning, which is critical for tandem runs.

Springs, Damping, and Anti-Roll Bars

Drift cars want soft suspension, the opposite of a race car. Soft springs and dampers transfer weight cleanly between the sides, which allows the car to be flicked into a slide.

A safe baseline is springs around 400, anti-roll bars set to soft (around 8), and damping at roughly 4 across the board. Run the rear slightly softer than the front to keep weight on the front tires for steering response.

Gear Ratios

Gear ratios are the last thing to tune, because they need to be tested on the road. The goal is for the main drifting gear (usually third or fourth) to peak right at redline without bouncing off the rev limiter.

To dial it in, find a long straight, sit in the main drift gear, floor the throttle, and watch the RPMs. If the engine hits the limiter, raise the final drive slightly. If it never reaches redline, lower the final drive until it does.

For low-horsepower builds, lengthen third and fourth gears to keep the engine in its power band through long drifts. Adjusting only the final drive scales every gear at once and keeps the curve clean.

Tire Pressure

Front tire pressure is around 28-30 PSI for solid steering grip. Rear pressure drops to around 26 PSI because the rear tires heat up during a drift, and pressure naturally climbs as they warm.

Higher PSI means a smaller contact patch and less grip, which can be useful for higher-power cars that need to break traction easily. For lower-power builds, drop the rears to keep them spinning without locking up.

Practice Areas

To practice, it is ideal to find no traffic initially, as nothing ruins a nice drift like oncoming traffic. We recommend choosing either closed off areas, or wide open areas.

The Shimanoyama Circuit is a closed environment, ideal for practicing without traffic. For open-road practice, the drift road south of Tokyo City has long sweeping corners that reward smooth throttle control.

Or using Drag Meet locations, as those are literal mile long wide roads with absolutely no obstructions.

Drift Zones and Skill Points

Drift Zones are the bread and butter of drift practice. They pay out Skill Points, Credits, and three-star rewards for clean runs, and they exist on roads specifically designed to flow from corner to corner. To get better scores, you can look in your car’s Mastery tree and identify any skill multipliers, +X% Drift scores, etcetera.

For Drift Zones that are too tight to drift the entire way, zig-zag through the path instead of forcing one long slide. Just never stop drifting, because any non-drifting time forfeits potential points.

Frequently Asked Questions