How to Drift GTA 5 Best Drift Cars Guide Tips and Tricks

Straight answer, then the detail

Start here - the essentials, then the detail below:

• Avoid: buying a Benny's conversion without checking the base car is owned and insured.
• Store heavy vehicles like the Toreador in the Kosatka moon pool for instant access.
• GTA San Andreas: 2004
• GTA III: 2001

The data behind how to drift GTA 5

Numbers first - the rest of the page explains how to use them.

GTA Vice City Stories and GTA Chinatown Wars are the rows we check first after every update; when either moves, this page is revised.

We cover best muscle cars GTA separately, including the parts that do not apply here.

Which approach fits you

Different starting points call for different how to drift GTA 5 plans:

Progressive practice

One skill per session: first initiating the slide, then holding it, then linking corners. Same structure for take-off, hover and landing.

Challenge-led

Use Flight School gold medals, stunt jumps and Car Meet time trials as graded tests; each pays cash or RP in GTA Online.

Equipment-led

Buy the car built for the job - a Drift Tampa or Drift Yosemite, a Benny's Faction, a Buzzard - and let the setup teach you the technique.

Have these ready

What how to drift GTA 5 assumes you already have:

• For weaponized vehicles: the matching property (Facility, Terrorbyte or Kosatka)
• For HSW: a PS5 or Series X|S and LS Car Meet membership (50,000)
• Los Santos Customs upgrades, roughly 100,000-200,000 per car to max
• Enough cash: the Pariah is 1.42 million, the Krieger 2.875 million, the Itali RSX 3.465 million

Players who ask about this usually also ask about how to join GTA Online 2027.

Traps to sidestep

Where how to drift GTA 5 attempts most often fail, in rough order of frequency:

• Judging speed by the showroom bars instead of tested figures
• Paying full price the week before a vehicle goes on 40 percent discount
• Using a supercar for off-road sell missions instead of a Toreador or a Kuruma
• Full engine upgrade before suspension and brakes - more power makes bad habits worse
• Forgetting that a few 'fast' cars have a bugged acceleration curve and lose every race start

Customisation changes handling more than most players realise - lowered suspension, specific tyre types and even spoilers change grip values in GTA V and GTA Online.

Step by step: how to drift GTA 5

The order matters for how to drift GTA 5; do these top to bottom:

Before you start: for weaponized vehicles: the matching property (Facility, Terrorbyte or Kosatka); enough cash: the Pariah is 1.42 million, the Krieger 2.875 million, the Itali RSX 3.465 million.

1. Set the basics in Settings: first-person vehicle camera off for driving, invert look to taste, and 'hood' or 'bumper' camera for precision work.
2. Practise in a safe area: the LS Car Meet test track, the Sandy Shores airfield or the Flight School at LSIA, which also pays for gold medals.
3. Learn the one key input: brake-tap to initiate a drift, counter-steer with partial stick; in helicopters, small collective adjustments and nose-down for forward speed.
4. Add the upgrades that matter: Benny's lowrider conversions for hydraulics, drift tuning at the LS Car Meet mod shop, or suspension and brakes before engine.
5. Record a lap or flight and compare with your previous one; improvement in how to drift GTA 5 is measurable in seconds, not feel.

Each step above has been checked in the current build of GTA 5.

Trusted sources for how to drift GTA 5

If you want to verify anything on this page, start here:

• Rockstar Support - known issues, the ban policy and account help
• GTA Wiki - mission scripts, vehicle stats and historical data - check the edit date
• Rockstar Newswire - official announcements, weekly GTA Online bonuses and patch notes

We link to none of them as affiliates and none of them paid for a mention.

Small things that matter

A few things about how to drift GTA 5 that took us longer to learn than they should have:

• →Benny's Original Motor Works in Strawberry converts specific cars (Faction, Sultan RS, Banshee 900R, Elegy Retro Custom) and the conversion fee is separate from the car.
• →Helicopter landings: reduce collective early and let the skids settle; the Buzzard and Sparrow forgive mistakes that the Cargobob punishes.
• →Drift tuning is applied at the LS Car Meet mod shop to specific cars added since the Chop Shop update and disables normal grip, so keep a separate car for racing.

Myths vs facts

Popular belief versus what the game actually does:

Myth: Vehicle stats are the same on every platform
Reality: HSW upgrades exist only on PS5 and Series X|S and change the top-speed ranking completely.

Myth: You need a controller to fly
Reality: Mouse and keyboard work with the right key bindings; the Flight School teaches the inputs either way.

Myth: Drifting is faster around corners
Reality: It is not; it is slower in almost every car. Grip driving wins races, drifting wins style.

Myth: Top speed wins races
Reality: Lap time wins; the Krieger beats the Pariah on almost every circuit.

The dates and prices here are shared with free cars this week GTA Online podium prize; if one changes, both pages are updated.

Why this is worth your time

Rockstar's handling model rewards smooth inputs: full-lock steering scrubs speed, feathered throttle keeps traction, and the same is true for aircraft collective and pitch.

A 1.4 million Pariah still beats cars costing three times as much in a straight line - the price tag tells you nothing.

• ✗Using a supercar to learn drifting; AWD and high downforce fight the slide
• ✗Skipping the spoiler on a sports car and losing grip through corners
• ✗Buying the Oppressor Mk II before owning a Terrorbyte, which is needed to re-arm it

Final word

how to drift GTA 5 is worth the effort for most players. The exceptions are noted above, and they come down to time and platform rather than skill.

Related and worth your time: how to join GTA Online and GTA Online best cars.