• @safesyrup
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    629 days ago

    What i dont quite understand is that if the street racers wanted to go up or down as fast as possible, why did they drift?

    Its not like drifting is any faster than racing with grip but maybe that was like a cultural obligation if you wanted to participate?

    Initial D is a great anime non the less :)

    • @zaphodb2002@sh.itjust.works
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      429 days ago

      When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time. Look at how rally drivers take tight hairpins even on tarmac. Imo big showy drifts aren’t fast but they do serve as good practice for understanding the car at the limit and reacting in low-grip situations.

      • @saltesc@lemmy.world
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        429 days ago

        When the corners are very, very tight, and there’s hardly any straights, it’s often beneficial to maintain entry speed and get the car rotated in the right direction quickly, assuming you’re capable of recovering the slide at the appropriate time.

        Especially downhill where the car needs more front brake bias to stop harder, and that means even more understeer coming into the turn. Snapping into oversteer so you’re pointing the right way, then ending drift when the car’s ready to put that high rpm back into traction, that’s one of the rare occasions where drifting will get through faster. And as you said, it certainly doesn’t make for big showy slides. Even in tarmac rally, they’re floating the car through the turn, not getting its ass way out the side for 20m.

      • @safesyrup
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        329 days ago

        Yes, that makes sense. Drifting around hairpins is most of the time faster. It also makes sense to drift when you are unable to maintain proper slip angle, just as you stated when the ground offers low and unpredictable amounts of grip.

    • @umbrella@lemmy.ml
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      29 days ago

      it is sometimes faster to loosen the grip on your rear wheels to point the front end in a better direction. they call it tail braking iirc.