11 Best Drift Cars In Forza Horizon 5

Playground Games takes drifting to the next level for the latest instalment of the Horizon series. We help you find the best drift car in Forza Horizon 5.

First, we cover the best drift cars in Forza Horizon 5, before explaining what you need to do once you’ve got your hands on your stock ride to transform it into the perfect sideways tire-slayer!

Introduction

Forza Horizon 5 has proven to be the fastest-growing Horizon game in history. After hitting 3 million unique players just a few days after release, more than 45 million are now enjoying what the latest title in the Horizon franchise has to offer.

Following the shock Horizon 5 PS5 release (that we thought we’d never see!), the player count will undoubtedly continue to climb for the foreseeable future as fans eagerly await the arrival of Forza Horizon 6. (Japan, anyone?!)

It’s easy to see why the game has become so popular among car and driving enthusiasts. Whether you’re into rallying, drag racing, circuit, sprint, off-roading, drifting, or simply going as fast as possible on the straights.

You name it – there’s something for every motorsport fan to enjoy.

One of Forza Horizon 5’s most popular aspects is its online gameplay, where friends (or strangers) can meet up and drive (or drift) their favorite cars around the beautifully scenic open-world map set in Mexico.

FH5 is more of an ‘arcade’ game in the physics department. Its forgiving drifting makes it accessible for just about everyone, and it’s the perfect entry point for those getting started with drifting games.

Getting to grips with sliding around the streets of Mexico is far more forgiving than realistic driving simulators such as Assetto Corsa. Yet, it’s still enough to put real-world advanced drifting techniques, such as the manji, to good use!

If you’re like us, we bet you can’t wait to start tandem drifting around the Mexican streets and lush mountain ranges with the homies.

For that reason, we’ve taken the time to come up with the best drift cars in Forza Horizon 5 to help you find the ultimate pick(s) for your needs.

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The 11 Best Drift Cars In Forza Horizon 5

The Forza Horizon series has always had an insane roster of cars from almost every manufacturer imaginable.

The guys at Playground Games also have a habit of outdoing themselves with every iteration. For example, with Forza Horizon 5, they insisted on having more cars available at launch than Forza Horizon 4 – 500 versus 460, respectively.

Through multiple free and paid DLC content updates, Forza Horizon 4 eventually ended up with a massive 750 unique licensed cars on its roster.

If you thought that’s impressive, Horizon 5 now features over 900 cars! With so much choice, it’s easy to see why finding the perfect drift machines for slaying the Mexican streets is challenging.

We could easily cover every drift car available in Forza Horizon 5. However, we’ll save you scrolling through a gigantic list of (mostly) mediocre skidders to help you find the best drift cars in Forza Horizon 5. Let’s dive in!

Nissan 240SX SE (Silvia S13/S14/S15)

No best drift car Forza Horizon 5 list could be complete without the Nissan Silvia, whether you choose the S13, S14, or S15 (Silvia Spec-R).

Known as the 240SX in North America, Nissan’s S-chassis has stood the test of time and continues to be the go-to drift chassis for Horizon 5 fans and pro-drifters. Despite the S13 being over 35 years old, it’s still topping podiums across the globe.

In Forza Horizon 5, the Nissan 240SX S13, S14, and 200SX S15 are among the cheapest drift cars you can get in-game. But, don’t let the low price fool you!

Simple upgrades, such as stiffer suspension, drift tires, chassis reinforcements, and some improvements to the SR20DET engine, are enough to take the Nissan Silvia to the next level.

The awesome S-chassis will remain competitive in B-class, A-class, S1-class, and even S2-class if you opt for an engine swap.

This makes it one of the easiest drift cars in Forza Horizon 5 for beginners, and a super competitive chassis once you start mastering your drifting skills.

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Mazda RX-7 ’97

Anime fans will undoubtedly be tempted by the iconic ’90s sports car and paint it mustard yellow as quickly as possible in Forza Horizon 5 – just like Keisuke’s yellow Mazda RX-7 in Initial D!

The rotary-powered rear-wheel-drive B Class Japanese sports car has a competitive chassis for time-attack and circuit racing. However, it’s certainly no slouch when it comes to drifting.

The Mazda RX-7’s 13B two-rotor turbocharged rotary engine churns out 280 horsepower from its tiny 1.3-liter engine. With the help of forced induction, the RX-7’s unique powerplant has enough power to light up the rear wheels for as long as your gas tank has fuel.

Wanna know the best part? You won’t need to worry about the cost and effort of maintaining the problematic rotary in the real world!

Its lightweight chassis and nearly 50-50 weight distribution also help make left-to-right transitions easy when drifting in Forza Horizon 5.

In-game, max power is around ‘only’ 700-horsepower when fully modified. However, for the RX-7’s almost weightless chassis, that’s more than enough to shred rubber on your favorite backroads and mountain passes in Forza Horizon 5.

Need more power? Simply drop in an engine swap, but don’t go for anything too heavy, or you’ll ruin that perfect weight distribution!

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Mazda MX-5 Miata ’94

It’s no secret that Mazda made some sweet sports cars in the 90s – two of their most iconic cars made it to our best drift car Forza Horizon 5 list after all!

Mazda’s Miata MX-5 is a short-wheelbase, lightweight two-seater with a relatively tiny four-cylinder engine. The D Class Roadster can be bought from the Autoshow for just 25,000 credits.

Forza Horizon (and real world owners) will undoubtedly know that the humble Japanese roadster can struggle to keep the rear wheels spinning in long sweeping corners in stock form, and they would be right.

This is part of the beauty of the Miata. If you’re a beginner trying to figure out the ins and outs of drifting in Forza Horizon 5, the Miata presents a perfect pick for the best car for getting to grips with the basics of drifting in Forza Horizon 5.

The ample power of the roadster will teach you the skills to start, maintain, and finish drifts around the game’s scenic Mexican roads, and you’ll learn to push it to its limits.

At the same time, a simple rear differential upgrade and stiffer drift-spec springs will help the MX-5 handle transitions perfectly.

When you’ve mastered the basics, as with almost every car in Forza Horizon 5, the Miata’s tuning potential is near-limitless. If you’re after a short wheelbase chassis for tandems, even if you opt for bonkers power, it’s undoubtedly one to consider.

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Nissan 370Z

We’re now entering the realm of 300+ horsepower drift cars, able to attack the wide, long sweeping corners easily.

Just like in the real world, the Nissan Fairlady 370Z’s 3.7-liter 332-horsepower V6 will have zero problems when it comes to drifting in Forza Horizon 5.

Since the V6 engine is naturally aspirated, the powerband is smooth and linear, making it great for controlled drifts.

The 370Z is a step up from the three previous cars listed above. And while it’s certainly a little heavier, the weight-reduction upgrades make the 370Z’s power even more usable.

Overall, the 370Z is one of our favorite drift cars for Forza Horizon 5, thanks to its predictable powerband, precise handling, good power, and affordable price.

If predictable power bands and “good” power aren’t exciting enough, you can always opt for forced induction with a turbo or supercharger upgrade. Or, as always, consider swapping the engine out entirely!

You can grab the B Class drifter in stock form from the Autoshow for just 40,000 credits.

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Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5

Jumping from the 370Z’s 332-horsepower V6 to the huge V8 in the A-Class Ford Mustang RTR muscle car might seem intimidating at first, but you won’t need to panic.

While the Ford Mustang RTR boasts significantly more power than the Nissan Fairlady 370Z, it also weighs quite a bit more. The extra weight should tame the animal, the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 engine, featuring 460 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque, before you add any upgrades.

Despite the increase in power, the Ford Mustang RTR is fairly similar to the 370Z handling-wise, with some added power and torque.

Its linear, predictable powerband and controllable chassis help prepare you for what’s to come when you transition to more powerful, purpose-built drift cars on our list.

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DeBerti Toyota Tacoma TRD “The Performance Truck”

You’re probably shocked to see a truck here, but this thing is far from ‘normal’!

Once you see the stats, you’ll forgive us for including a Toyota “workhorse” on our best drift car in Forza Horizon 5 list. Under the hood is a sneaky NASCAR V8 with 900(!) horsepower.

That’s not all – it also has a custom widebody and a stock steering angle of 74 degrees, which helps it earn its moniker, ‘The Performance Truck.’

The power and steering angle of the DeBerti Toyota Tacoma TRD alone already screams “drift truck!”.

Despite the mods that made this truck a drifting weapon, it stays true to its roots and remains one of the best trucks in Forza Horizon 5 for dirt drifting and rallying.

The S1 Class performance truck can be acquired for 500,000 credits from the Autoshow.

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Hoonigan Mazda RX-7 Twerkstallion

Now, we have three Mazdas among our top drift cars of Forza Horizon 5 list. Mazda made a name for itself in the late 80s and early 90s drift scene, and unique builds such as Hoonigan’s Twerkstallion took things to the next level.

The Mazda RX-7 Twerkstallion is a Mazda in form only. This beast has shed its Wankel rotary engine in favor of a modern American V8.

An engine swap that’s considered heresy for many Mazda purists and rotary lovers, but the results speak for themselves – Twerstallion’s V8 engine produces 600-horsepower without working up a sweat.

That might not seem like much, especially when you’re coming from the DeBerti Tacoma TRD with 900-horsepower, but you’re forgetting one key factor – the Twerstallion only weighs just 2,866 pounds!

We all know that a lightweight chassis combined with bonkers power on tap is the perfect recipe for unmatched sideways capability, and the Twerkstallion certainly delivers on that front.

Your skill is the only limiting factor here. With tons of seat time, along with the tips at the end of this article, we don’t doubt that you’ll soon be able to tame this drift monster with (relative) ease, even if its shorter wheelbase makes it a little trickier than some of the other options.

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Hoonigan Ford “Hoonicorn” Mustang

Ah, the custom-built Ford Mustang made for “hooning” around!

Originally driven by Ken Block (RIP), the 1965 Ford “Hoonicorn” Mustang debuted in the series in Forza Horizon 3 as part of the Hoonigan Car Pack. For Forza Horizon 4 and 5, it returns as a standard-issue car.

Since its debut in FH3, the Hoonicorn cemented itself repeatedly as one of, if not the best drift car in the Forza Horizon series for those looking for an all-wheel-drive drifter. AWD not your thing? (We get it!) No problem – a drivetrain swap will have you covered.

With over 1,400 horsepower and 1,200 lb-ft of torque on tap, the Hoonicorn is one of the most bonkers off-the-shelf builds in the game.

With this much power under the hood, the Hoonicorn spins all four wheels without a thought, making it the most popular AWD drift car in Forza Horizon 5.

We all know the deal by now. Insane amounts of power in a lightweight chassis make a great drift car. The Hoonicorn is no exception, even if it spins up two wheels too many!

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Formula Drift #43 Dodge Viper SRT10

The Dodge Viper SRT10 is already a drift monster capable of 90-degree slides in “stock” (pre-tuned) form.

However, the Formula Drift #43 car driven by Dean Kearney in the real-world series will make even the most seasoned drifters work up a good sweat.

1,350 ground-shattering horsepower from the 8.3-liter twin-turbocharged V10 is certainly a handful for beginners, which is why we placed this car near the tail-end of our best drift cars in Forza Horizon 5 list.

If you’re considering slaying every drift zone within FH5, learn how to master the Formula Drift #43 Dodge Viper SRT10 for maximum control, and it’ll be more than capable.

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Formula Drift #91 BMW M2

The Formula Drift #91 BMW M2, known as the “F22 Eurofighter,” is based on the real-world car built by Latvian drifter Kristaps Bluss and the team at HGK Motorsports.

This car was driven in Formula Drift by Swiss driver Yves Meyer. Although Yves might not have revolutionized the game when he gave FD his best shot, it doesn’t appear to be the car’s fault if this tune is accurate.

Once you get behind the wheel of this pre-tuned FD M2 weapon, you’ll soon see what we mean!

The 2020 pro-spec comp car comes pre-tuned with a 6.1L V8 engine producing 822 horsepower right out of the box. Its lightweight 1,292 kg chassis with an ideal 49% front weight distribution creates a great balance for drifting.

The M2’s short wheelbase allows it to rotate incredibly fast compared to longer wheelbase drift cars in Forza Horizon 5. While this can be super useful for experienced players, it’ll be trickier for newbies. Therefore, (unless you like a challenge!), we recommend that new players consider other options initially.

Like other Formula Drift cars in the game, the #91 M2 features significantly more steering angle than the stock M2, making it more forgiving once you get the hang of it.

With the racing 3.0L I6 turbo engine swap, the M2 can produce 1,270 horsepower while maintaining a relatively light weight of 2,643 pounds. This makes it a versatile choice for experienced drifters, assuming you can handle the snappy, short-wheelbase chassis.

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Formula Drift #34 Toyota Supra MKIV

You probably already saw this coming – the Formula Drift #43 Toyota Supra MKIV tops our list as the best drift car in Forza Horizon 5.

Powered by the bulletproof 2JZ-GTE straight-six engine used by multiple teams in almost every pro drift comp, the Formula Drift #34 Toyota Supra MKIV makes a staggering 1,035 horsepower and 920 lb-ft torque thanks to the stroker engine taking the 3.0-liter 2JZ to 3.4 liters and feeding it 19 lbs of boost for good measure!

The Formula Drift #34 Toyota Supra MKIV has less power than some of the more outrageous drift cars on this list. However, it makes up for it with top-tier handling, and the FD tune is perfectly capable without requiring much tweaking.

After getting a taste for the rowdy sub-1,500-horsepower beasts such as the Hoonigan Mustang and FD #43 Dodge Viper SRT10, you’ll find the FD #34 Toyota Supra MKIV strikes an outstanding balance between outright power and razor-sharp handling.

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Getting Started With Drifting in Forza Horizon 5

If you’re a big fan of the Forza Horizon series, you probably already have a decent idea of how to drift in Forza Horizon 5.

However, if FH5 is your entry into the Forza Horizon series (PS5 owners, we’re looking at you!), you might want to start by reading our useful guide on how to drift. These real-world tips will get you confidently hitting the clipping points on the streets of Mexico in no time.

Despite being a more ‘casual’ racing title, Forza Horizon 5’s driving physics are no slouch – real-life drifting techniques and principles will still be useful when learning how to drift in FH5.

If you’d prefer to learn from a video, we recommend checking out this clip on how to drift by TC9700Gaming to get a good idea of what you can try and do to start burning rubber.

Initial Considerations

In terms of car choices for getting the most out of drifting in Forza Horizon 5, you will ideally make sure that your weapon of choice is built on a rear-wheel-drive platform. Although cars like the Hoonigan are perfect for AWD drifting, it’s not the best way to learn for beginners.

While AWD and even FWD cars can still technically drift, these cars can’t hold a candle to RWD cars in terms of sustained tire-shredding sideways action in Forza Horizon 5.

Learning and understanding your drift car tuning and setup are essential, whether you want to score as many points as possible in Horizon 5’s Drift Zones or confidently tap on your homies’ doors during tandem runs without smashing into their ride!

While there are a ton of free public drift setups that you can download and use in-game, most of these setups are created for a specific player’s driving style and preferences, as well as wheel/controller setup. Given this, these setups won’t necessarily equate to a better drifting experience for you.

With that in mind, we picked only the best drift cars of Forza Horizon 5 from the various performance classes that work well out of the box so that beginners and experienced drifters can spend less time on setups and more time shredding rubber around Mexico.

Once you’ve learned the basics of drifting, here are some things to consider when you start.

Step 1 – Choose Your First Car

Upon starting your career in Forza Horizon 5, you’re given a choice of three cars:

• Toyota GR Supra
• Chevrolet C8 Corvette Stingray
• Ford Bronco

The Ford Bronco isn’t recommended unless you want to go off-road (even though it is technically capable of drifting, to a certain extent!), leaving us with the Toyota GR Supra and the Chevrolet C8 Corvette Stingray.

You can’t go wrong with either, as both cars feature ideal RWD platforms with tons of power to spare.

On the one hand, the C8 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray instantly beats the slightly tuned Toyota GR Supra out of the box with more power – 515 horsepower versus 433 horsepower.

However, the Toyota GR Supra offers more forgiving drifting characteristics, thanks to its ample power and excellent chassis balance.

In our opinion, going with the car you like the look of most should be your top priority here. Once you’ve earned heaps of points for showing off your skiddin’ skills, you’ll be adding plenty more drift cars to your garage anyway!

Step 2 – Upgrades & Modifications

To get the ultimate drifting experience from your drift car in Forza Horizon 5, make sure that you upgrade all of the following parameters to “drift spec” if they aren’t already:

• Engine Mods
• Brakes
• Suspension
• Drivetrain
• Wheels & Tires
• Aero

If you’re starting with the C8 Corvette Stingray or the GR Supra, you can skip the engine mods.

These cars already boast well over 400 horsepower from the get-go, which is plenty of power to get you sideways around the streets of Mexico.

But, if you’re confident in your sideways abilities, you can consider upgrading each part to ‘Race’ for the ultimate performance.

For beginners, you’re better off spending your cash on Weight Reduction, Anti-Roll Bars, and Chassis Reinforcement. These upgrades improve the overall responsiveness of the car’s chassis when going sideways.

You’ll want to max out everything to ‘Race’ within the ‘Drivetrain’ section, since upgrades such as the Clutch/Flywheel, Transmission, and Differential all influence how your car starts and holds a slide when drifting.

Remember to upgrade your tires to the appropriate ‘Drift’ tire modification. This will give your car the ideal grip levels it needs for drifting.

If ‘Drift’ tires feel too grippy on low-powered cars, you can opt for Sport/Stock tires.

Avoid installing Race tires on your drift car. These tires are designed for maximum traction and will hinder your car’s ability to go sideways.

Finally, make sure you upgrade your suspension to ‘Drift’ spec custom suspension. This upgrade will give your car the adjustability freedom it needs when you begin dabbling in setups and tuning, which we will touch on in Step 3.

One of the things that made the Forza Horizon series such a popular game was that Turn 10/Playground Games gave Forza fans almost everything they needed to tweak and tune their cars in-game easily.

The insane selection of modifications and upgrades allows for a near-infinite number of possibilities, so drivers can roll around the streets of Mexico showing off their unique style.

Step 3 – Tuning

Tuning is a dark art in Forza Horizon 5, and something you’ll need to continue learning as you progress. It’ll undoubtedly feel overwhelming initially, so we recommend keeping things simple.

The performance and handling upgrades we carried out above should be good enough for most casual players to start drifting and learn the basics.

However, hardcore enthusiasts will want to extract every bit of potential from their cars and build their Forza Horizon 5 best drift car setup – this is where tuning comes in.

We’ve created a dedicated drift tuning guide specifically for Forza Horizon 5. In this, we cover everything you need to know to create the ultimate personalized setup for each of your drift cars.

If you prefer to watch a video, we recommend checking this one out:

Step 4 – Turn Off Driver Assists

To make the game even more approachable and cater to a larger audience, Forza Horizon 5 made the driving experience as forgiving as possible so everyone could enjoy the game.

While a few of the Driver Assists work wonders for circuit and sprint races, for drifting, they’ll mostly hinder you from achieving your full potential.

With this in mind, make sure that you configure the in-game Driver Assists as follows to get started:

A couple of considerations depending on your ability level/setup:

• Steering – We recommend ‘Simulation’ for wheel users and ‘Standard’ for controller/keyboard users.
• Shifting – ‘Manual with clutch’ gives you the most control for drifting (the clutch is used often for ultimate precision.) However, ‘Automatic’ will be best to get you started. You can then progress to ‘Manual’ and ‘Manual with clutch’ over time.
• Driving Line – There’s no shame in having ‘Driving Line’ on. It can be super useful when you’re just starting with drifting in FH5. Once you get a feel for the streets of Mexico, you may want to consider turning this off.

These settings should give you precise control of your drifts in-game, but keep the game casual enough to keep you drifting for hours. A win-win in our books!

Step 5 – Seat Time

Unfortunately, in Forza Horizon 5, no car, upgrade, or setup combination will magically turn you into James Deane overnight.

Like any other art form, drifting requires hours upon hours of practice to get perfect, so don’t worry about not getting into the flow of drifting immediately.

A great way to get the hang of the drift physics in Forza Horizon 5 is by finding a wide-open spot where you can practice doing figure eights or even something as simple as donuts.

This will teach you how the car reacts to each input, and you can quickly learn weight transfer from how the car reacts.

After all, if you think about it, wide sweeping corners are just glorified figures of eights, with some donuts thrown into the mix!

Whether you’re playing Forza Horizon 5 with a wheel, gamepad, or keyboard, we’re sure that awesome drifts will soon be achieved with enough practice and the right car.

Another thing you might want to consider is the type of in-game camera to use for drifting.

Although Camera Angles (POVs) are a matter of personal preference, the Chase Camera is probably the best POV for drifting in Forza Horizon 5, especially when starting out.

It offers the widest point of view, so you can easily judge your braking points, apex, and the succeeding corners.

However, if you prefer the realism provided by the Dashboard POV, then by all means, go for it!

Conclusion

As you gain even more experience drifting in Forza Horizon 5, try to start testing various upgrades and tuning to fine-tune your favorite drift car to your needs.

Play around with your car’s settings in small increments (as mentioned in our tuning guide) to understand how each parameter changes various aspects of how the car behaves when sideways.

Lastly, remember to have fun! Horizon is still just a game, after all. With enough seat time, you’ll get the hang of drifting in Forza Horizon 5 quicker than expected.

We hope we’ve covered everything you want to know about finding the best drift car in Forza Horizon 5 in this guide to suit your needs.

Looking to earn some additional credits to purchase your favorite drift cars? You can do so by having fun smashing solar panels, or earn more Skill Points by mastering the Daredevil Skills.

At work or school, and want to play an awesome drifting game right now? Check out Drift Hunters MAX!

Thank you for reading our best drift cars in Forza Horizon 5 guide

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Photography credits

We thank the following entities for the use of their photography in this article:

• THE_PPSH

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