Crazy Drifter

Crazy Drifter summary

This racing and drifting simulator features a variety of game modes. Whether you want Drift, Circuit, Time Attack, Knockout, or Race, Crazy Drifter has it all.

With awesome physics, a great car selection, and a huge variety of aftermarket tuning parts, you’ll also have a blast using your earnings to unlock some of the best JDM cars on offer.

Street racing is where things get super intense, where you’ll go head-to-head against insanely aggressive AI rivals while dodging heavy traffic going about their day. On top of that, you’ll need to avoid crashing into hard objects, or you’ll soon regret it.

Alternatively, for a more chilled experience, you can choose to head to the track to show off your drifting skills. This is where you’ll rack up serious cash in your bank balance to unlock your dream rides as quickly as possible.

Crazy Drifter has something for everyone, which is what’s making it one of the most popular drifting games around, and it’s one we highly recommend checking out.

Crazy Drifter Controls

PC/Laptop/Chromebook

• W/Up arrow – Accelerate
• S/Down arrow – Brake/reverse
• A/Left arrow – Turn left
• D/Right arrow – Turn right
• Space – E-brake
• Shift – Boost/nitro
• C key – Change camera view
• R key – Reset car

Mobile

• Press the on-screen buttons

How to play Crazy Drifter

Initial setup

When you first start playing Crazy Drifter, there are a few things you’ll want to consider. In the top right of the main menu, you’ll find several important settings:

Quality

Select the H (high) setting if you can, as this will offer improved visuals. However, if you find the game isn’t running as smoothly as you’d like, you can always change this to L (low) later by returning or using the in-game menu.

Music/sound

Click the musical note to toggle the in-game audio. The sound will be muted when a strike-through is shown.

Achievements

Next to the quality setting, you’ll see an award badge. This is where you can view your current progress with the in-game achievements.

It’s also a good opportunity to take a look at what you can start unlocking from the beginning. There are quite a few, so make sure you use the bar to scroll through them.

Please don’t panic about needing to remember all of them now. You’ll begin unlocking the easier ones quickly once you start showing off your skills, and you can always return here later to see which ones remain for your next goals.

Otherwise, the general options are quite simple, so let’s venture into the game itself by pressing the ‘PLAY’ button in the bottom right of the screen.

Getting started

If you’d like additional tips on mastering Crazy Drifter, head to the ‘Advanced tips & tricks’ section below. But for now, let’s take a look at the basics to get you started.

Once you’ve hit PLAY, you’re taken straight to your garage/workshop, where you’ve got a free Mitsubishi Evo (replica, of course) ready and waiting for you on the ramps.

You’re welcome to explore the tuning potential at this point, but given that you only have $100 in the bank at the beginning, you’ll soon realize you’ll need to earn more before you can upgrade anything. Still, you’ll get an idea of what’s on offer.

If you click STORE, you can also view the other JDM cars that you’ll soon be able to unlock. We take a deeper dive into them in the ‘Car selection’ section below, but since they range from $18,000 to $45,000, we need to get earning first.

When you’re back in the garage, click NEXT to check out the earning opportunities on the map. Here’s what each of the symbols means:

Crazy Drifter game modes

Crazy Drifter offers five game modes, and you might not see all of them when you first load the map. But once you start completing more challenges, the rest will appear.

Drift

As you probably guessed, this one is our personal favorite.

In Drift mode, you’ll need to rack up the highest drifting score you can while also getting to the finish as quickly as possible, while trying to avoid going off the track. If you do go off-roading (it happens!), there’s no need to panic, but the PENALTY timer will begin counting up, which will deduct from your final time.

While the drifting physics are good, they take some getting used to. They’re not quite as natural as other drifting games like Drift Hunters MAX. Try to pull off big angles to keep the momentum, and use the nitrous (Shift key) when you need to. If you play it safe, your car will bog down due to a lack of power. We’ll dive deeper into this in the advanced section below.

As you can see, I clocked up a bit of a time penalty on my first attempt, but still unlocked a few achievements and got the three-star rating. You could do much better if you maximize the combos.

The best part? Even on my first attempt, I earned a $3,000 bonus for the quick lap, bringing my drift score to 11,196 and totaling $14,196. That’s enough to unlock the next car in the showroom, which is awesome for just 2 minutes of playing. Winning.

Circuit

Circuit puts you head-to-head with two insanely aggressive opponents (you’ve been warned).

These guys will do anything to leave you slamming into buildings, or even worse, oncoming traffic. That’s right, in these street races, there’s plenty of innocent drivers going about their daily commute as you take on the three-lap circuit race against your opponents.

Keep an eye out for the highlighted arrows, which show you where to go. You can also view this on the radar map in the top left of the game screen.

Thankfully, the same drifting physics from Drift mode remain, so you can use your newfound skills to earn extra cash by styling out in the corners.

After being slammed into oncoming traffic by my rival right near the end of the race, I finished third in my first attempt, earning 1 star and collecting only $7,729. Admittedly, I found the Evo struggled to keep up with the more impressive cars, so you’ll want to get upgrading as soon as possible.

Time Attack

This mode is similar to ‘Circuit’ above, but this time there’s just one lap against a single opponent. There’s absolutely no room for error here, as your rival will leave you in their dust if you crash, but it’s a good way to earn money quickly if you nail the lap.

Knockout

This is a three-lap race against three opponents, with the driver in last place at the end of each lap automatically eliminated. Again, this means one mistake can be vital, so stay sharp.

Race

A dog-eat-dog point-to-point race in a 1v1 against another opponent. Pure racing with no holds barred.

In-game options

Camera

You can either press the camera icon in the top-right of the in-game screen or the ‘C’ key on your keyboard to toggle between four different in-game cameras.

Pause

Press this to pause the game if you need to stop suddenly, especially if the teacher’s coming!

Nitrous bar

Around your speedometer in the bottom right, you’ll see a blue bar. This tells you how much nitrous/boost you currently have.

You get a limited amount to use each time, and you can see how quickly it depletes. However, once emptied, it refills quickly, allowing you to use it multiple times during any event.

Crazy Drifter car selection

Crazy Drifter has five JDM cars to choose from:

• Mitsubishi Evo – FREE
• Mazda RX-7 FC – $18,000
• Honda S2000 – $23,000
• Subaru BRZ – $32,000
• Toyota Supra – $45,000

While these may seem expensive, once you start to understand the game and begin racking up combos, you’ll be unlocking your favorite JDM legends in no time.

Crazy Drifter tuning & customization

The good news is there’s plenty of styling options and aftermarket body parts in Crazy Drifter. However, the downside is that there are no performance mods or upgrades. For that, you’ll definitely want to check out Drift Hunters MAX or Drift City.

With that said, you can get your ride looking awesome with this comprehensive list of mods:

Paint

Choose from any color you can think of on the color palette, and adjust the saturation until you get it perfect.

Cage

While it looks cool, you won’t get any performance benefits from fitting a cage. If you’re not feeling the color, don’t panic. Once you’ve bought it, you can choose any color from the palette.

Hood

Each car offers a wide selection of hoods, from subtle upgrades to crazy vented carbon-fiber designs. Check out the carbon weave, as it looks awesome with the in-game lighting.

Bumper

There’s a variety of designs, from basic OEM+ choices through to recognizable aftermarket drifting kits and Time Attack specials with more crazy carbon canards.

Splitter

You can add even more carbon-fiber goodness with a splitter, which, again, is more Time Attack-focused.

Side skirt

Skirts on offer vary between cars, but there’s usually a selection of painted and carbon options.

Rear bumper

Find the perfect rear bumper to match the body kit you chose for the front and sides, or go for something completely different – your call.

Spoiler

From subtle OEM ducktail spoilers to gigantic carbon BGWs, there’s something for everyone again here.

Exhaust

Set off your rear-end with a choice of tips. Again, unfortunately, no performance benefits.

Crazy Drifter advanced tips & tricks

Maximize the combos

Combos have great earning potential, but they’re a little trickier than other games like Drift King. You’ll need to use advanced drifting techniques like the manji to keep the chains going.

To keep the combo topped up, you’ll also want to avoid losing too much power. If you feel it bogging down, hit the nitrous (Shift) key to keep the wheels spinning.

Don’t worry about the time penalties when you’re starting out

Focus on refining this later, and prioritize earning money first. Time penalties don’t make your wallet take a hit, just the final time on the scoreboard. You can always go back and improve your times once you’ve purchased the better cars on offer.

Be wary of your opponents when racing

They’ll often leave you slamming into anything you can think of, so try to race smart and get around them early.

If you sit behind, they’ll usually fight each other to the point they’ll both end up crashing, where you can laugh your way to the finish line.

Try to avoid hitting objects

Not many of the obstacles smash in this game, so you’ll want to try to avoid them. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to learn the hard way.

Use the sidewalk as a shortcut

This trick is perfect for squeezing through tight gaps to gain an advantage, but it’s also risky, so make sure you don’t hit the lampposts or fire hydrants, or you’ll grind to a halt. Best part? The AI isn’t sneaky enough to figure this one out.

Smooth driving gets rewarded

When you start spending a lot of time sideways, you’ll get a feel for when you’ve pulled off a clean drift. When you execute a clean drift, you’ll get a “boost” in power. It’s not the same flames and extreme motion blur as nitro, but you’ll still feel your car zoom forward for a moment.

The more of these you can link together, the better the advantage you’ll gain over your rivals.

Use your boost/nitrous wisely

While boost can be extremely useful, it’s also difficult to handle in tight and twisty corners, so use it in vital moments to blast past your rivals.

If you’ve enjoyed what Crazy Drifter offers, but you’re after a free online multiplayer game you can enjoy with your friends, we recommend giving Drift King a try. Here are 6 reasons fans are loving it right now.

Alternatively, if you want something a bit crazier, then Survival Race might just be what you’re looking for.