Forza Horizon 5: How to drift

Driving isn't all about being fast, sometimes it's best to go the fun way around corners. Drifting is where it's at when it comes to style, especially in Forza Horizon 5. This is our guide to setting up your ride for sideways success and how to take the bends like a pro.

Car choice

Horizon 5 has a massive collection of cars on offer. The beauty of them as well is that they're all able to drift if you customise them correctly. That being said, some cars are definitely better than others for drifting. The easiest rides to hold some sideways action are those with rear wheel drive and their engine mounted at the front.

The best cars we've found are usually Japanese sports cars from the 1990s and 2000s. It's little wonder why movies like Tokyo Drift were set in Japan, the cars were built to hold a slide.

Upgrades

So, once you've found your car of choice, you need to upgrade and tune it for the optimum drifting setup. In the upgrades shop, start by completing an engine swap. What kind of engine you opt for is up to you, but we've found that when the torque and horsepower ratings are similar, this makes a good compromise.

For the aspiration of the engine, you should use a supercharger. Avoid turbochargers, as these have turbo lag and make the car more unpredictable when getting the power down. As the name suggests, drifting tyres are best for drifting, and make sure they're wide as well.

As for the gearbox, a racing transmission allows you to change gear faster. Drift differential allows your ride to handle the high revs that drifting requires. Drift suspension is also able to help you out, as are racing camshafts and exhaust. This is all in the pursuit of more power, which will help the car lay the power into the tarmac.

Tuning

Beginning with the tyre pressures, these should be high as you'll have less grip and be able to get a slide on. When drifting, you don't want to be going too quick, nor in a high gear. So, therefore, your lower gear ratios should be on the high side. Negative tyre camber and positive toe angles also helps you bring your drifter to life.

Anti-roll bars should be about default, as your springs should be too. Your spring damping should be on the soft side as well, as this makes the car have a smoother ride.

Technique

When it comes to drifting, it's very easy to carry out once you've got the correct car setup properly. Simply lay the power down by pressing RT and use the left trigger to steer the car intro a slide. The odd dab of the handbrake by pressing B and getting off the power helps maintain your drift.

What you absolutely must not use though is the brakes, as this will bring your slide to an abrupt halt. The key to all this though is practice, the more you practice drifting, the better you'll get.

Video tutorial

There's a lot to learn when it comes to drifting and if you're better seeing rather than reading, watch the video below to get some pointers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ifZNd7-Ck