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This is slip angle. An advanced driving technique that blends grip and drift. It was used by Takumi in the show Initial D, and ever since then this technique has almost had an air of mystery surrounding it. I've received tens of comments telling me to look into slip angle in more depth since I made my grip vs drift video so here we are. Ask and thout shall receive guys. So, make sure you keep watching until the end if you want to become a driving god.

So, what is slip angle? Slip angle is a measurement of how much the tire's contact patch has twisted (steered) in relation to the wheel. A good way to demonstrate this characteristic is to stand beside your car and turn the
steering wheel. If you watch the one of the front wheels, you will see that it steers a few degrees before the tire's contact patch starts to turn. This characteristics is important in racing, because as long as the tires have traction, the car tries to go where the tires are pointed. So, even though the wheels may not be steering, the tires can be steering due to the slip angle

For instance, if we take a look at this example, we can see that the vehicle is seemingly oversteering through the curve. It is following the inner radius of the corner closely. Now, because slip angle is in effect, and the tyres are steering without wheel much input, we can follow the inner radius of the corner all the way around. If we weren't using slip angle to take this
corner, we wouldn't be able to follow the inner radius all the way round, thus we will be slower.

If we take a look at a car utilising slip angle in slow motion, we can see that the front tyres are directly on the inner radius of the corner, but the rear tyres are about a foot away from said radius. This is the easiest way to spot slip angle. If the rear tyres are farther away from the inside of the corner than the fronts, that is slip angle. If you go back and watch your fastest
lap times or touge runs, I can almost guarantee that at least some slip angle was used.

Now this may be very counter intuitive to most sim racers, as sliding is usually slower and degrades the tyres massively. But to get around the corner as fast as possible, you actually have to engage a slight bit of oversteer. We can see this done in the top flight of motorsport, Formula 1 at every single corner, by every single driver. It's almost like drifting, however it is very subtle, faster, and less stylish. Whereas drifting is all about breaking traction, slip angle is produced on the very limit, as this is where the tyres are at their grippiest. Newer drivers may have been taught that sliding is bad, and that is why slip angle is so counter intuitive. But, sliding slightly is much faster than cornering well within the limits of the tyres.

So the easiest way to start using slip angle and become a faster driver is to really visualise what is happening with the car as you drive. Those with natural talent may already do this, but for others this may be harder. You need to visualise what the tyres are doing as you turn, throttle and brake. As you approach a corner under throttle, all four tyres are equally distributing the weight to the tarmac. Everything is perfectly balanced. However, once you let off the throttle and brake, the weight of the car will shift to the front tyres. This means that your rear tyres are lifted off the ground slightly and they have much less contact with the tarmac than they usually would have. Thus, the front tyres have more grip, and the rears have a lot less than usual.
As you turn in, still off the throttle and the weight of the car on the front tyres, you will find the front of the car wants to grip more than the rear. And naturally, the rear will want to slide and enter the state of slip angle, thus giving the car the ability to rotate faster that it could if all four tyres were gripping equally. As you proceed through the corner, you will soon need to hit the throttle again. If you throttle too aggressively, you risk the weight being pulled to the rear tyres, and you will enter understeer and wash out of the corner. So, you need to feather the throttle and find the right amount for the car you are using. The hardest part here is of course, not overdoing it and entering an actual drift or even spinning out.

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