Sometimes in your haste to enjoy a game, you don't give it a good chance. My first time playing this game (well, maybe my first hour) was me being really frustrated at not being able to drift, not being able to control my car, and generally not being able to make it the way I wanted. I pictured a game that was more about relaxing and leisurely drifting through tracks or endless highways, but was wrong.

The thing is, I don't mind being wrong; Absolute Drift has a great mechanics system that rewards you for putting time in and learning how your car works. This is likely as close to it comes to the real world, too, as no one is necessarily a Drift King the first time they try. The more time I spent tweaking the settings (note: you may find Hard controls with 100% steering sensitivity better if you're used to drifting in other Arcade-y racers) the more I felt myself gradually getting better.

The cool thing is, every time I boot the game up now I genuinely need to warm up, as my first ten minutes are me reacclimating to how my car controls. This isn't a bad thing at all; again, it rewards patience and persistence, and the first time you actually do pull off something awesome (be it a chain drift, or even a drift that's challenging things a little too far) you feel amazing.

Essentially this game rewards mastery of the mechanics and the time it takes to learn them. My main complaints are that I could do without the time limits, objectives and feedback during some event courses: I would love to be able to turn it off and just practice drifting (or just doing it therapeutically) without the game telling me I'm dropping combos or running out of time.

I also think this game (especially when it's called a Zen Edition) could use some procedurally-generated endless highway that either has a difficulty you specify or one that changes organically; I LOVE the mountain and midnight courses in this game, but find them woefully too short.

Great game, but you need to be patient with it. If you do, you'll find awesome, rewarding moments.

Sometimes in your haste to enjoy a game, you don't give it a good chance. My first time playing this game (well, maybe my first hour) was me being really frustrated at not being able to drift, not being able to control my car, and generally not being able to make it the way I wanted. I pictured a game that was more about relaxing and leisurely drifting through tracks or endless highways, but was wrong. The thing is, I don't mind being wrong; Absolute Drift has a great mechanics system that rewards you for putting time in and learning how your car works. This is likely as close to it comes to the real world, too, as no one is necessarily a Drift King the first time they try. The more time I spent tweaking the settings (note: you may find Hard controls with 100% steering sensitivity better if you're used to drifting in other Arcade-y racers) the more I felt myself gradually getting better. The cool thing is, every time I boot the game up now I genuinely need to warm up, as my first ten minutes are me reacclimating to how my car controls. This isn't a [i]bad[/i] thing at all; again, it rewards patience and persistence, and the first time you actually [i]do[/i] pull off something awesome (be it a chain drift, or even a drift that's challenging things a little too far) you feel amazing. Essentially this game rewards mastery of the mechanics and the time it takes to learn them. My main complaints are that I could do without the time limits, objectives and feedback during some event courses: I would love to be able to turn it off and just practice drifting (or just doing it therapeutically) without the game telling me I'm dropping combos or running out of time. I also think this game (especially when it's called a Zen Edition) could use some procedurally-generated endless highway that either has a difficulty you specify or one that changes organically; I LOVE the mountain and midnight courses in this game, but find them woefully too short. Great game, but you need to be patient with it. If you do, you'll find awesome, rewarding moments.