Drift Terminology

Drift has its own vocabulary, mostly inherited from Japanese touge and grip racing before it. None of it is specific to Circuit Builder — you’ll hear all of these terms trackside — and several appear in Circuit Builder’s Drive controls. Knowing the terms helps you choose a circuit type, place zones, and tune the line.

Apex

The innermost point of a corner — the spot the car passes closest to the inside of the turn. Grip racing takes an early or late apex depending on what sets up the exit fastest; a drift line cares more about carrying angle through it than clipping it perfectly. Circuit Builder’s apex position control sets where the clip sits inside a corner, and past halfway through the turn counts as a late apex.

Clip, or clipping point

A target the car should approach during a drift. An Inner Clipping Point is an inside target for the front bumper; an Outer Clipping Point is a short outside target for the rear. An Outer Zone asks the rear to fill a longer area, while a Touch-and-Go Zone asks it to reach an area briefly. Wall contact is not required. Follow the event briefing for judging expectations. Clip tightness under Drive settings → Tuning controls how close to the lane edge the generated line aims where the car has room. See Circuit Elements for the zone tools.

Manji

A rhythmic side-to-side weave down a straight, holding the car sideways through every transition — left, right, left, right — instead of running straight between corners. It’s a touge-era demonstration technique more than a competition scoring element today, but it’s a real skill and a genuinely hard one to hold cleanly at speed. Weave spacing sets how far the car travels per flick, in car lengths; Weave angle sets the drift angle during the weave relative to the angle held in corners. Find both under Drive settings → Tuning → Straight-line weaving.

Touge

Literally “pass” or “mountain pass” in Japanese — the narrow, twisting mountain roads where street drifting culture started, and now a circuit type in its own right: a single, continuous lane with no pit straight or grid, built around a run rather than a lap. Circuit Builder’s Touge circuit type lays one out with that in mind — see Circuit Elements for how it differs from Competition and City.

Tandem and train

A drift run with one car is Solo. Two cars running the same line at once, one chasing the other, is Tandem — the lead sets the line and the chase car matches it as closely as it can, gap and all. Three or more cars in the same line is a Train. Circuit Builder’s Drive panel supports all three, up to six cars in one lineup, and checks the gap between every car so you find out about a contact risk from the panel instead of watching it happen.

See Drive & Simulation for how these all come together as controls you can actually drag around.