GTA Online players praise revamped drift feature in Winter Update: “It feels really good”

The Winter Update for GTA Online brought multiple new features, but none stands out as much as the overhauled drift mechanic. Here’s what the GTA community said about it.

Rockstar introduced the recent Winter Update in GTA Online, loaded with new features, including a new car robbery business, the arrival of animals for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, a new weapon, vehicles, and plenty of bonuses.

Another feature highlighted in this recent GTA Online update is Drift Races. Players now have the opportunity to compete in drift races, earning many points in each curve and thus gaining a lot of RP and money.

However, for Rockstar to definitively introduce drift races, they first had to overhaul the existing drifting system, and the GTA Online community couldn’t be happier with the results.

User ‘Yorileth’ posted a clip on Reddit titled “This is my favorite Christmas update,” in which he can be seen continuously drifting with his Dinka Jester in one of the many parking lots in Los Santos.

The previous drifting mechanic in GTA Online was quite challenging to execute, as even a slight extra movement could result in a spin, ruining what could have been a perfect curve or transition, that’s why Rockstar have now introduced the following change.

To take a curve and drift, players now had to perform the same braking mechanic with the handbrake (R1 on PlayStation; RB on Xbox) and maintain the angle with the left stick. However, the change now allows players to easily adjust the angle with light touches to the handbrake and accelerator (R2; RT), avoiding crashes, spins, or overly wide curves.

Thanks to this new update, GTA Online players can execute longer drifts and smoother transitions in freemode. Many users who have just noticed this change after seeing Yorileth’s post were amazed at how “sick” that drift looked, stating, “This is the first time in a long time I am excited like a kid to play the game.”

Finally, a drifting enthusiast commented “It’s A M A Z I N G” the fact that now you can repeat a lot of movements of Ken Block’s clips and videos in GTA Online. The question now is, how long will it take for GTA Online players to start posting their drift videos of races or in a custom circuit?

For more on the game, you can check how many people play GTA Online, as well as which are the fastest vehicles.