As Taka Said.

v. drift·ed, drift·ing, drifts
v. intr.

1. To be carried along by currents of air or water: a balloon drifting eastward; as the wreckage drifted toward shore.
2. To proceed or move unhurriedly and smoothly: drifting among the party guests.
3. To move leisurely or sporadically from place to place, especially without purpose or regular employment: a day laborer, drifting from town to town.
4.  
   1. To wander from a set course or point of attention; stray.
   2. To vary from or oscillate randomly about a fixed setting, position, or mode of operation.
5. To be piled up in banks or heaps by the force of a current: snow drifting to five feet.

 

drifting is like when it rains,and your takeing a turn a lil fast and you rear startsa to slip,and you react and counter stear and go straight agian...kinda like that,but you dont really need to do it in the rain unless u want to or dont have a lsd.and as some said above its controling your car when its out of control..idk,just thought id say somthin. but plz read up on it somehow is a fun motor sport todo,fun hobby,fun lifestyle for many. be safe,and keep it side ways man.peacee

 

drifting is all about bumping a 4 month old thread

 

Sure, powersliding or throttle-oversteer is probably the number one element of drifting, but for what is generally called drifting these days you need to also enter the turn sideways, not just start sliding when you get on the throttle (generally at or a lil before the turns apex).

Generally people will come at a turn with a LOT of speed and tap the brakes a little whle cutting the wheel toward the turn to make the rear end swing out. Emergency brake and scandinavian flick (initially turning the wheel the wrong way to loosen the rear end and then cutting the wheel back and powering through the slide) are a couple other ways though. Getting from this point to where you can accelerate out of the turn sideways is the hard part.

If your car is setup for it, you can sometimes carry the car sideways all the way to the apex just with the inertia. This is generally the traditional way, but some drivers prefer using the emergency brake (e-brake) or even throttle to balance the car toward the apex. Using throttle is difficult to do though without adding speed, but works great if you're running a late apex line and you can get on the gas early to shoot through.

Hope I didn't overwhelm you with terms there,
Cheers

-sean