The Art of Drift Jumping by IVORBIGUN7

Ever wonder how racers fly past you at 280mph? Then look no further because I shall explain how it’s done.

Method 1 - The Drift Jump

With this type of drift jump you are literally drifting a ramp as you would a corner. Now there are two ways of achieving this. The first and probably easiest way is done without holding the boost. When you are approaching a ramp take your finger off the boost button, now when your car is going up the ramp tap the brake button and press left or right on the analog stick so you put your car into a drift. Once your car leaves the ramp instantly put your finger back on the boost button and when you land your speed will instantly increase. The timing of when you put your finger back on the boost is what dictates what drift jump speed you obtain so practice will teach you when to do this. I will add that when doing this type of drift jump you can actually move your car in the air by using the analog stick to spot your landing so you don’t jump into oncoming!

The other way of doing this drift jump is to hold the boost down when approaching the ramp, take your finger off the boost the moment you are on the ramp, then drift & boost. This can be more difficult to do because your timing has to be spot on, and if you don’t take your finger off the boost when drifting the ramp your drift speed will be a lot less. A lot depends on your speed due to speed handicap when approaching the ramp so use your discretion when deciding which of the two methods to use.

Method 2 - The Boost Jump

This method of drift jumping I find much easier to do although some of my friends find this more difficult so again use your discretion when deciding which method to use. The bonus of this type of drift jump is that on certain ramps the method 1 can be awkward to carry out so again it is up to you to decide which method you prefer with each ramp. To do this drift jump, again take your finger off the boost and when you car is just about to leave the ramp, boost off from the top of it. When your car is just about to land, start drifting left or right, depending on the ramp, and you will again see your speed increase rapidly.

Method 3 - Drift Bumps

Many players who are new to drift jumping instantly think that you can only drift a ramp. This is actually wrong because you can drift jump even the slightest bumps on the road. The track Eastern bay Long F is a very good example because there are no ramps to speak of and yet probably around 7 or more areas to drift jump. The method for this is the same as Method 1. What you need to do, when approaching a bump, take your finger off the boost, drift the bump and instantly put your finger back on the boost. This takes more practice because your timing has to be spot on because you need to put your finger back on the boost before you land otherwise you won’t increase your speed. The drift jump speeds aren’t as fast as drifting the ramps but by doing this method you can generally maintain your speed around 230-240mph instead of dropping to 209mph.

Method 4 - Combination Drift Jumps

As the method suggests this is be doing a combination of drift jumps. On certain ramps you can use method 1 and then when you land perform method 1 again. The tracks Motor City Long F & Angel Valley R instantly spring to mind. I shall talk you through the ramp on Motor city Long F which is just before the cranes as an example. When I approach the ramp I perform Method 1 now when I land, I take my finger off the boost, drift the bump on the road and instantly put my finger on the boost. The greater I drift the bump the greater my speed, so instead of driving through the cranes at 240mph I'm usually doing 255-265 mph. The other jump to do this method on is coming out of the sewers on Angel valley R where I once obtained 325mph on the PS2 version. This takes many hours of practice, and expect to crash many times.

Method 5 - The Advanced Art of Drift Jumping

This is the most difficult aspect of drift jumping and before anyone tries this they must be able to perform the other methods.

Generally speaking, what dictates your drift jump speed is your speed before you approach the ramp. As an example, on Central Route Long F, when you approach the ramp on the right hand side at the start of the lap you should be doing 240-250mph by using method 1 on the previous ramp. Now because of this speed when you drift the first ramp your drift jump speed will only be 245mph which basically means you will only be driving into oncoming at 230mph. How would you like to start the lap at 250mph obtain 260mph on first ramp and driving into oncoming at 245mph? Well what you have to do is actually slow your car down before the ramp to around 209mph which is the perfect speed for drift jumping. When approaching the ramp, release the accelerate button for a few seconds and then perform method 1. This is much more difficult than it sounds because your timing has to be spot on because you have very little time to put this sequence together. It may sound strange that your slowing your car down but when you consider the benefits of the greater speed you will find yourself flying past those who are using method’s 1 or 2 only. This method works on every single ramp/bump on the road but it takes many hours of practice. I have played this game for a very long time but even now every time I play Revenge I find quicker speeds and have a long way to go in perfecting this method.

Method 6 - Maintaining your Drift Speed

Drift jumping is only half the story because it is pretty worthless if you cannot maintain your speed. Maintaining your speed depends a lot on you and your opponents positions. For example if your obtain 260mph off a drift jump but one of your opponents is 2 miles behind your speed will instantly drop down to 209mph. However if racers are close then you can maintain this speed much better. The secret of doing this is drifting even when you are on the slightest of bends, never steer your car because this will mean you lose speed, always try and perform slight drifts the whole way along the track.

I do hope you have found this guide useful and I would like to take this opportunity to thank B1uemax69 who is not only a good friend but it is largely down to him in helping me learn some of these drift jumping techniques, especially the advanced drift jumping method.