ISF001

I was going to post information in another thread about the RC F and drifting in slalom mode. While the slalom mode is effective, the driver who gets on the F in this mode will need to be aware that the car will drift much more easily as the steering is more immediate. Fun? Yes, but be careful out there among the English. It will drift, but it is quite controllable with steering corrections.

I found this article. It's worth a quick read.

Can the 2015 Lexus RC F drift like a BMW M4?

The best thing about rear wheel drive in a sports car is that the wheels with power are not the wheels you steer with. Unless of course you like the odd Scandinavian flick to set the car adrift. Yes, the Lexus RC F is rear wheel drive, it has more than enough power to induce power-oversteer, and it would seem plenty capable of drifting. The only question is, will the RC F's electronic nannies let it?

M4 Oversteer
If you have not seen the video of a poor soul leaving a Cars and Coffee event in an M4 who floors it and loses control, you need to click this link (below) and watch. The M4 is a torque monster and the car can get away from drivers who are not used to such a twitchy setup. There is no doubt the M4 can drift. The only question is can the driver catch it with opposite lock in time to keep it on the tarmac.


RC F Drift Commentary
In my track time in both of the RC F, the Torsen and Torque Vectoring Differential (TVD) I did not drift so much as oversteer the car a bit. My skills are somewhat limited and my credentials new. I’d like to be invited back to the next Lexus track event. However, the Autocar guys went at it and the video here is well worth a look. Our favorite comments by the driver?

Here they are in order:
- The RC F is “Nicely balanced.” “Very Balanced.”
- The RC F is ” A lot tidier than the BMW.”
- “If you keep the nose (of the RC F) tucked it does not understeer much.”
- The RC F has a “Pleasingly linear engine.”
- The RC F is “a deliciously old-school coupe”
- “I just don’t think (the M4) is quite as progressive as the Lexus.”

Having driven both an M3 and RC F on track this fall, I would concur. However, one note. To an experienced driver, the M4 might be the car that is more fun to flog. If your skills are limited, the RC F is your drift machine.

MisterSkiz

iTrader: (2)

In that M4 video, the guy didn't even try to countersteer....poor guy.

johnnyreb

Yep, you could tell he was in No Man's Land & Didn't Have a Clue!

DougHII

Ouch. The M4 went airborne and landed like a champ. Good thing no traffic coming in opposite direction. Poor guy, but could have been a lot worse. He even went between two signs.

TsunamiF

It's strange that an experienced driver like Jeremy Clarkson had such a hard time trying to get the RC-F to drift or maintain smooth control over the car during cornering like the writers from Autocar did in their review.

ISF001

Well, not really...this was an extremely sad and poorly orchestrated attempt on his part to discredit the new F. I stated earlier in another thread, if I can drift this car, anyone can.

I don't suffer fools gladly like Clarkson. Thankfully, I will not have to given his dismissal from TG.

I will say that if the setting is in TVD track mode, the RC-F is a slot-car--which personally I like.

DougHII

Lol, that was a contrived joke. Anyone with his skill level could easily keep the RC F on the track. He did that in purpose to make a point. Too funny that people with little or no high performance driving seat time or experience buy into his little stunt. I can plough into a corner in any car with weight back at turn in, induce understeer and then accelerate ploughing the nose straight off the track. Basic car control 101. What he did was an intentional joke that I could do in any car on this planet.

gipsonke

That clown Clarkson almost had me not buying my F. I had test driven an i8 and then got invited to BMW's Thermal race track for a day of tracking M's. First off I have to say that the M4 is perfectly balanced and extremely predictable, IF you know what you're doing. But the whole daily driver/weekend track warrior thing is over rated. I'm not about to push my $75K vehicle hard around Willow Spring's turn 3! Not gonna happen. So really it comes down to a luxury, "pony" car, that I can have fun with on the track occasionally. After buying an Eclipse which was way too fat, I swore i'd never make that mistake again. So I saw Jeremy's bogus review with him going off the track in the RCF, plus combined with the great experience I had at Thermal and all I'm waiting for is my year end executive bonus to come in and I'm at the BMW dealer.

And then I drove the Lexus RCF. The very first impression I had of it was that it immediately reminded me of my best friend's 1980 Camaro Z28. Smelled the same. Sounded the same. Drove the same...And then some! I test drove an Ultrasonic blue fully loaded F and asked the sales guy to put a SOLD sign on it.

I love my F. And oh by the way, I'll be glad to meet up with any BMW guys at Willow and will enjoy eating you up on turns 1, 2, 3 and 7 coming out on the throttle!!! :-)

Jeremy just wanted to have an excuse to drive that LFA again.

gipsonke

Yeah and then when a professional driver who's mostly unbiased (even he was saying that the M4 "felt" quicker) drove both the RCF and M4 around Willow, then there was a total of only 0.3 secs difference between the two! And that with the Bimmer having carbon ceramic brakes!

Now we're getting all of these revised test drives

IMCHIA

Keiichi Tsuchiya didn't have any problems drifting the RCF.