Drifting can be difficult regardless of what the game is, and the more realistic the game the harder it can be for players. This has led this type of racing to be done by certain players, ones who are pretty good at driving and understand how a car works. However, there are many games out there that make it easy and teach players the best way to do so, and one of those games is Need For Speed: Payback. While the Need For Speed games have come a long way from being a typical racer, the later games encourage players to race in different ways.
The games are great for all sorts of players, for example, if players like open-world racing games, they will find a home in this series, and if they like typical street racing, the Need For Speed games offer that as well. This list will help players figure out what the best drifting cars are in Need For Speed: Payback. But what players should note, it's one thing to have a good drift car, it's another thing to know how to drift in it. If they can learn how to drive that way, drifting comes easily, and the car feels better.
5 Nissan 350z
This little beast is a great car for players to start off on drifting because it's easy to handle and gets the job done. It also highlights why Need For Speed: Payback is a great street racer because the 305z can zip around the city with ease, and lets players get into the high-octane driving of the game. What makes it a great drifting car, is how nimble it can be on the track, and since Need For Speed games outside of Need For Speed: Payback have tracks that are very windy, the 305z can make driving on them super easy.
The best part is how easy the car is to learn, which in turn makes drifting easy to grasp. Once players get the flow of drifting, racing in general becomes easy, and the 350z allows just that. Plus, the best part is that without upgrades, drifting is a lot more fluid, but when players upgrade the 305z, then drifting becomes very easy.
4 Nissan Silva
The Nissan cars in all Need For Speed games are very versatile, that's why most fans of the carmaker will have at least 3 in their garage. The reason being is that they're good for many aspects of racing, and are highly customizable, so they're good cars for any player to have. The Nissan Silva is good evidence of that, while the 305z is a good all-around car, the Silva is built for drifting, and acts the same way as it does in Need For Speed: Heat.
As soon as players get into the car, and drive it, they'll feel how responsive it is compared to the 350z, and for drifting that's really important. Also having good handling, in general, helps a lot because players can recover and get out or in of drifting is pretty easy with the Nissan Silva. Just like the 305z, the Silva is highly customizable, and things get better for players the more they upgrade it.
3 Ford Mustang Daraltic
Even though the Need For Speed games have been all over the place, Need For Speed: Payback somewhat grounds the franchise by focusing on racing, rather than other things that the other game in the series focuses on. This muscle car is a good example of that because it's one that highlights a lot of the great aspects of Need For Speed: Payback including drifting. Muscle cars in the game are a hit or miss or are limited to certain races because they're not the best in many applications.
However, they are great for drifting, and this Ford Mustang is a good example of that. Being a heavier car, allows the player to drift with ease, but they should be cautious of recovering out of drift with this car because its handling is quite sensitive, so players should be careful at that point. But overall, once players learn and understand how drifting works, they should use this Ford Mustang because it'll reward them.
2 Lamborghini Huracan
Now, this is a car that many players wouldn't think twice about before using because while players may think it's just built for speed, they realize how versatile it can be with time. Thanks to the very high degree that Need For Speed: Payback gives players in terms of customization, makes the case for the Huracan. Since it's a supercar, everything is rather sensitive on it, from the brakes to acceleration, everything is supposed to react on a dime for players.
This may lead to them not trying it out for drifting, but the hypersensitive is what makes things better, even without upgrading the car. For example, one of the best ways to initiate a drift is by hand braking, since it's super sensitive on the Huracan, players can fluidly enter a drift and control it with ease since the car's handling is excellent out of the box. Because of that, players can drift aggressively with the Huracan, since they know they're in full control of the drift more so than other cars on this list. Which in turn, makes drifting as a whole pretty fun to do.
1 BMW M5
This BMW is a super versatile car, meaning it's great for many types of driving styles, provided players have built it for a specific racing style. If players lean into the drifting build for the M5, they'll have a great time doing so. The M5 is a perfectly shaped box-like car, so it can drive and handle really well. However, if players want to upgrade the car, they should primarily focus on handling. While that is great outright, it's still too stiff for drifting, and players will realize how important that becomes the more they drift.
By loosening up the handling, players can drift with ease and get more points that way. On top of that, unless players want to, they can upgrade a lot of other things about the car to make the drifting even easier. But with that said, outside of handling, players won't have much of an issue since the M5 makes things super easy for players once they've bought it.
Need For Speed: Payback is available now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, and PC.