Games · Drift

Drift: free online drifting game

Rear-wheel-drive cars, a handbrake and thick white tyre smoke. Slide sideways for as long as you can, chain corners to raise the multiplier and do not crash, or you lose it all. Four arenas, six cars, gates, a duel against the computer and a new drift every day. Free, no account needed.

How to play

• The car accelerates by itself. On a phone, press the big left and right buttons to steer. In the middle is the big HANDBRAKE button to start your drifts, with BRAKE below it. On a computer, use the arrows or A and D to steer, the space bar for the handbrake and S to brake.
• While the car slides sideways (more than 12 degrees between where it points and where it goes), you score: the bigger the angle and the speed, and the longer it lasts, the more points. Chain drifts without straightening up for long to raise the multiplier up to x5. Hit a wall or spin and you lose the drift in progress, and the multiplier drops to x1.
• The zones painted on the ground, on the outside of corners, give a bonus if you cross them sideways. Cones cost 100 points. Grab the V coins (100 points each), the x2 (double points for 10 seconds) and the turbo.
• In Free session and Drift of the day, your points over 2 minutes count. In the Gate challenge, each gate is worth 300 points, or 800 if you go through sideways, and leftover time gives a bonus. In the Duel, the computer drives a lap first and the higher score wins: 1000 per level plus an extra for your score.

Where drifting comes from

Drifting was born in Japan. In the 1970s, driver Kunimitsu Takahashi, a former motorcycle racer, became known on Japanese tracks for taking corners with the rear sliding out, and he is seen as one of the creators of the technique. At the same time, amateur drivers began practising these slides on Japan’s twisty mountain roads, which the Japanese call tōge.

One of them, Keiichi Tsuchiya, learned on those roads and became known as the “Drift King”. In 1987 a video of him drifting, called Pluspy, was a hit and inspired many future drivers. In 1988 he helped organise one of the first events devoted only to drifting.

Drifting became a professional sport with the D1 Grand Prix, whose first event was held in October 2000 at Ebisu circuit in Japan. In drifting the fastest does not win: judges score angle, speed, line and show. In two-car battles, called tsuiso, one car chases the other closely, both sideways. Today there are drifting championships in Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Free game, no betting and no prizes. The arenas and cars are made up. Your session is saved on this device.