How To Drift – Best Free YouTube Tutorials (Beginner To Pro)

Whether you’re just getting into drifting or just wanting to refine your skills, we’ve created this guide so that you can decide which free online drifting courses and tutorials are best-suited to your needs.

You get the choice of the legendary Drift King, Keiichi Tsuchiya, showing you the ropes, or someone who’ll guide you through the absolute basics of how to use the pedals, donuts, and figure-8s on Assetto Corsa.

Or, you might be looking for tips on how you can finally close that damn 10mm gap between you and your homies when you’re tandeming at the track or on the sim rig. We mean it when we say there’s something for absolutely everyone on this list, and we’ll start with the most comprehensive offerings.

Full ‘how to drift’ video courses

Chelsea DeNofa

Whether you’re starting from the ground up or wanting to learn advanced techniques, Formula DRIFT’s 2023 Champion, Chelsea DeNofa, has the perfect playlist of videos to guide you along the way.

Don’t worry – while he might be a former FD champ known for his wild drifting abilities, his series starts with the absolute basics, including donuts, clutch kicking, and simple figure-8s, before moving on to more advanced techniques.

As a real-world drift instructor, Chelsea not only knows his stuff but also explains things really well. The videos are super short (just a few minutes) and to the point, featuring a low-power BMW E46 323i with around 150-160 hp and a basic setup, including a welded diff and minimal mods.

Along with the ‘how to drift’ tutorials, he also has plenty of other videos on drifting with an automatic, buying your first drift car, understanding setups, and teaching his wife (also Chelsea!) how to tandem.

Click here for Chelsea DeNofa’s full 18-video How To Drift playlist on YouTube.

The Drift Bible (by Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya)

Old-school drifting fans might be feeling a little disappointed I’ve listed the Drift King below Chelsea, but there’s a good reason.

While Tsuchiya is one of the founding fathers of drifting, and it has truly been known as the go-to drifting bible since the early 2000s, the sport has evolved so much over the past 20+ years that things are different for someone wanting to learn and drift with others today.

Also, the JDM cars that were once classed as budget drift cars back in Tsuchiya’s prime are mostly unaffordable for those looking to get into drifting now.

With that said, if you specifically want to learn the old-school, low-horsepower, full-attack style that the Japanese OGs used, The Drift Bible will be perfect.

However, if you want to learn the modern-day approach to drifting, which will be far more ideal if you’re looking to join in with trains and tandems with the homies, Chelsea DeNofa’s series will be more relatable. Not only does his series show you how to do so in an affordable budget drift car, but he’s up-to-date with how drifting has evolved.

Tsuchiya’s style, on the other hand, is more focused on the traditional 90s style of touge drifting with low-powered, skinny-tire drift cars, focusing on maintaining as much speed and low angle as possible with absolute precision.

Mostly filmed at the legendary Ebisu Circuit in his legendary Toyota AE86, along with other JDM classics such as the Nissan 200SX S14, The Drift Bible is now dubbed in English, so you don’t need to worry about learning Japanese before you start watching.

The well-thought-out series even uses unique features, such as a “G-ball” camera overlay that shows exactly how the car reacts to the g-forces at play, and it’s clear how much work has gone into it.

While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a top priority for beginners in the present day, we still strongly believe that Keiichi Tsuchiya’s Drift Bible should be any drifting fan’s must-watch playlist.

The best part is that the full video (1 hr 10mins)  is available to watch on YouTube and embedded below. The fact that it’s already clocked up over 1.5 million views says all you need to know.

Haugen Racing

Matt Haugen is an American drifter and YouTuber who has competed in Formula DRIFT PROSPEC. He also spent plenty of time in Japan before competing in FD Japan and is known for his wild Nissan Skyline R32 and R34 builds.

Thankfully, with the knowledge he’s gained over the years, he built one of the most comprehensive ‘how to drift’ playlists, with 56 videos. These combine real-world and drifting sim (Assetto Corsa) tutorials.

He covers everything from learning the absolute basics to advanced techniques and tandem advice, taking a deep dive into more detailed aspects such as mindset and etiquette. There’s also plenty more unique insights into competition drifting, what goes into the real-world prep for comps, and much more.

Click here for Haugen Racing’s 56-video How to Drift playlist on YouTube.

Kame Trick

If you’ve previously looked up just about any drifting-related videos, chances are Kame Trick will look familiar.

He’s an American grassroots drifter and content creator who frequently attends local drift events while also sharing his knowledge as he progresses from beginner to tandem expert.

He mixes real-world tutorials featuring his 240SX, along with a wide variety of sim drifting (Assetto Corsa) tutorials, including tandems with other well-known YouTubers such as CToretto.

Whether you’re just getting started, looking to move up to US grassroots events, or wanting to improve on your sim rig, Kame Trick’s channel is well worth checking out.

Click here for Kame Trick’s 14-video How to Drift playlist on YouTube.

Project X Motorsport

Sim only, but arguably one of the most useful for those of you who will be looking to do a lot of your practice on Assetto Corsa between real-world sessions and events.

The videos, with 31 in his playlist, take a deep dive into just about every aspect of sim drifting imaginable. He’s become one of the most respected coaches in sim drifting circles for those looking to expand their drifting knowledge.

From learning the basics to gaining a deep understanding of more detailed aspects such as grip and friction, each video is numbered, making it a perfect A-Z reference. It even includes a five-part guide to choosing the best steering wheel, covering every consideration imaginable.

Click here for Project X Motorsport’s 31-video How To Drift playlist on YouTube.

As well as his guides above, Project X Motorsport also has a specific Drift Coaching playlist, where he provides one-on-one assistance to other drifters to improve their skills. These are super interesting and informative.

Other drifting courses and guides worth checking out

James Deane

Five-time Formula DRIFT champion and arguably the GOAT drifter, James Deane, needs absolutely no introduction.

In the video below, he provides his top initiation tips. While they’re super useful, and the video (under three minutes) is well worth a watch, we hope we might get treated to a Chelsea DeNofa-style series from Deane one day.

Chris Forsberg/Donut Media

Another Formula DRIFT OG is Chris Forsberg, who worked with Donut and Jason Fenske (from Engineering Explained) and his Datsun 280Z to produce this two-part series with super-detailed insights and advice on topics such as drift car dynamics and alignment settings.

This is awesome for learning how things work and how to tweak your drift setup, but the more detailed aspects may be intimidating if you’re just getting started.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Drift School TV

Although the Drift School TV guys did a three-part series, Part 2 is purely focused on the specifics of how to map your car for drifting, which won’t be for everyone. We’ve intentionally kept it simple with these two, which are worth checking out.

Part 1:

Part 3:

Putting your newfound knowledge into practice

You can sit there binging all the content YouTube has to offer for days or weeks on end, but you’ll need to put all that knowledge to practice soon enough.

Ideally, you’ll want to get yourself a cheap drift car for learning the basics, then head to a safe (closed, of course) area or track to get to grips with the fundamentals.

From there, you’ll likely want to get yourself a better car, or perhaps consider upgrading your current one, before heading to a drift day with other drivers, or maybe even a grassroots event.

If this is likely to be out of your budget for the foreseeable future, don’t panic. You can get yourself a cheap sim rig and get started on Assetto Corsa.

Having learned how to drift on AC before transitioning over to real-world drifting, I can say that sim drifting really is an absolute game-changer. It will teach you so much for when you (hopefully) eventually manage to get behind the wheel.

Sure, it’s not identical, and things like weight transfer, grip, and how the car handles will feel totally different in an actual, real-world drift car, but once you adapt slightly, you’ll be able to connect the pieces together in no time at all.

While other popular drifting games like Forza Horizon 5 and CarX Drift Racing Online are great, they’re not going to be as ideal for truly learning how a car works compared to the more realistic drifting simulators like Assetto Corsa. They sure are fun, though!