Three kinds of free
- Free, full stop: you get the whole game. DRIFTIT, Drift.Wav, Drift Boss.
- Free to play, with in-app purchases: the game is free, and it sells currency, cars or passes. Torque Drift, FR Legends, CarX Drift Racing 2.
- Free demo or prologue: a small part of a paid game. Inertial Drift: Sunset Prologue.
Drift Hunters sits in the first group in a browser; what surrounds it depends on which portal you play it on.
1. DRIFTIT (desktop browser · free)
The catch: one car, desktop only. This is ours. DRIFTIT is a top-down drift game that runs in any desktop browser with WebGL. There is nothing to install, no account to make and no ads. The first load is about half a megabyte, so it starts in seconds.
You get 20 hand-built tracks across 5 low-poly worlds, all open from the start, plus a free-roam Playground with cones and donuts. Each track is a three-lap time attack against a target time. Drifting scores points with a multiplier that climbs to ×10 the longer you hold it, your best run drives next to you as a ghost, and every track has an online leaderboard. Signing in with X puts your @handle on it; playing as a guest is fine.
There is no garage, no tuning and no multiplayer lobby, and phones get a "desktop only" screen because there are no touch controls. It plays on a keyboard or a gamepad.
2. Drift Hunters (desktop browser, phones · free)
The catch: it depends on the site you play it on. Studionum43's browser drift game is the one most people found first. You drive from a camera behind the car (C changes it), earn points for drifting and spend them on 26 cars, with tuning for turbo, brakes, weight, camber, offset and more, across ten locations from race tracks to city streets. It is free on desktop browsers and in apps on iOS and Android. It is hosted on many game portals, and what you see around the game (ads included) depends on the site.
If you have outgrown it, we have a whole list of games like Drift Hunters.
3. Torque Drift (Steam · free to play)
The catch: in-app purchases, and a Windows download. Grease Monkey Games' first Torque Drift is free to play on Steam, and it is the most complete free drift game on PC. You build a car, earn sponsors and compete in online tandem battles, with tournaments of up to 32 players and open lobbies of up to 10. Tuning goes down to camber, toe and suspension, and the store page lists licensed parts and real-world tracks. The sequel, Torque Drift 2, is a paid Early Access game; we cover it in the best drift games on PC.
4. Drift.Wav (Steam · free)
The catch: it is not trying to be realistic. A casual drifting game with a synthwave look. Its own store page says it does not try to simulate real drift mechanics; it is about sliding around and relaxing. You earn money from drift score to buy 20+ cars, there are endless and highway modes with traffic, free multiplayer and several leaderboards, and you can drift to your own playlist of .wav files. A sequel, Drift.Wav II, is listed on Steam as coming soon, also free.
5. Inertial Drift: Sunset Prologue (Steam · free demo)
The catch: two tracks and two cars. A free prologue to Level 91 Entertainment's paid arcade racer. Its twin-stick controls are the reason to try it: the left stick steers and the right stick controls the drift on its own. You get the Lakeside Loop and the Sunset Sea Circuit, two cars and online leaderboards for your times. Bring a gamepad; it is built around two sticks.
6. FR Legends (iOS, Android · free to play)
The catch: in-app purchases, and it is phone only. A phone drift game built entirely around drifting. You drive front-engine, rear-wheel-drive cars, swap engines, fit wide-body kits, design liveries, and run tandem battles judged on rules based on real competitions, against AI or other players online (up to 12 per session). The App Store lists in-app purchases for currency, memberships and cosmetic packs.
7. CarX Drift Racing 2 (iOS, Android · free to play)
The catch: in-app purchases and a premium subscription. The phone version of the CarX drift games: deep tuning (suspension, engine, tyre pressure, body kits), tandem drifting scored by its XDS system, and real-time online rooms with friends. The App Store lists currency packs and a monthly premium subscription. On PC, the CarX game is CarX Drift Racing Online, which is paid.
8. Drift Boss (browser, phones · free)
The catch: it is not really a drift game. Drift Boss is a one-button timing game: the car drives itself along a path floating in the air, and you hold the mouse button or Space to turn. It is free in any browser, phone included, and it is relaxing for a minute. There is no car control to learn, but it is the honest answer if you want something on a phone with one finger.
Which free drift game to pick
| Game | Where | Kind of free | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRIFTIT | Desktop browser | Free, no ads | Time attack and leaderboards, no install |
| Drift Hunters | Desktop browser, phones | Free (ads depend on the portal) | Buying and tuning cars |
| Torque Drift | Steam (Windows) | Free to play + IAP | Online tandem battles |
| Drift.Wav | Steam (Windows) | Free | Relaxed sliding with music |
| Inertial Drift: Sunset Prologue | Steam (Windows) | Free demo | Trying twin-stick drifting |
| FR Legends | iOS, Android | Free to play + IAP | Tandem and car building on a phone |
| CarX Drift Racing 2 | iOS, Android | Free to play + IAP, subscription | Tuning and online rooms on a phone |
| Drift Boss | Browser, phones | Free | One-finger timing game |
A note on "free" downloads
Search for free drift games and you will find sites offering paid games like Absolute Drift or CarX "for free". Those are not official stores, and a paid game offered as a free download is not something to run on your computer. Every game on this list is free from its official store or site. If a paid game catches your eye, wait for a store sale; our best drift games on PC list covers the paid ones.
Free practice that carries over
The skill is the same in all of them: break the rear loose, counter-steer, and hold the angle with the throttle. Our how to drift guide walks through it on a keyboard, and how drift scoring works explains why long, linked slides score more than short ones. On a work laptop, see our list of games you can play without downloading.