Drifting VS Power Slidng

[meganlove]

A few friends and I have been arguing over this matter. They are saying that drifting with a front wheel drive car is power sliding, which isn't really drifting at all. Is there any truth to this?

[drdisque]

yes, FWD "drifting" is a contradiction, there's no such thing

[meganlove]

I knew it! So clarify for me the diference between drifting and power sliding. I know that power sliding is a form of drifting but what diferentiates the two.

[drdisque]

to drift you try to carry as much speed as you can through the corner, therefore you brake less than proper racing line (aka grip racing)

to power slide you actually have to pinch down on the brakes so much that you actually oversteer, if you tried to under or late-brake you would just understeer off the corner, therefore, a powerslide uses more brake than proper racing line.

[meganlove]

You said earlier that there is no such thing as FWD drifting but there is. What you have to do is use your side break lose traction and send your car into a drift, the rest is done the same, take the next corner. When I was in Santa Barbara I actually saw a guy drift a FWD car.

[drdisque]

thats not drifting because it actually lowers your exit speed because you use MORE brake

[ec437]

powersliding is when you throw the car into an agressive, oversteering line (in which your tires are sliding), and then use the throttle to control how much traction the back wheels have, therefore controling how far they slide out, thereby controling your line through the corner without using the steering wheels except to initiate the powerslide. Powersliding is, by definition, impossible with a FWD car. It is similar to drifting, which can be done artificially in a FWD car using the handbrake. The thing about this handbrake method is that you cannot mantain it for long, whereas in a RWD car you could, with enough skill, theoretically keep the car in a circular drift indefinitely. (until your tires wear out, that is...)