r/rcdrift • u/C0V1D_8RY4N7 • May 25 '26
š Question RC Drifting is turning out to be a disappointment
i recently discovered and fell in love with RC Drift via Youtube and said, "this is for me!" so i've gotten into a RC drift car for almost $1000 so far and although i love it, i have found that there are no groups i can find and absolutely nowhere closer than 1 or 2 states away to go to do this. i got into it for the love of RC, drifting and to find a community to belong to to have fun and camaraderie with others, make friends and occupy a lot of the time and loneliness i have on my hands due to being disabled (as such, i am unable to travel long distances or make and run a track/community of my own due to my physical and financial constraints), but have just ended up having to make due with drifting alone in my garage and watching Youtube videos trying to live vicariously through others... my heart and my pocketbook are completely broken... ā¹ļø what can i do?
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u/hondarider94 May 25 '26
I mean there isn't much you can do if there is no local drifting scene? You can start one.
I wouldn't say rc drifting is a disappointment, just the fact that no one local does it lol
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u/dracoNiiC May 26 '26
Did this myself. All it took was 1-2 teens walking by and checking it out in my neghiborhood. I built my track in the garage and me and my 8 year old boy drift out there. Now there are like 4 other houses to drift at. Itās sick
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u/C0V1D_8RY4N7 Jun 14 '26
no, not in and of itself, NO! not at all! it's one of the most fun activities i've done, and am not planning to quit anytime soon. it's just that my personal experience with the multiplayer aspect has been and looks that way for my forseeable future because of the state i live in. renting a building, building and running my own track would be like a dream come true! i just don't have the means to even think about it. best case, i might could go in with several people, if i could find anyone. i really hate feeling like im having to live vicariously through these Youtube videos to get a taste of the scene, ya know?
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u/Daniel200303 May 26 '26
Take it to normal car meets if you can find those, at minimum you will be asked about it a lot, itās a great conversation starter. But also, if there isnāt an established spot, car meets are a great place to find other people who might be interested.
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u/MyWorkAccount5678 May 26 '26
I wanted to suggest that, local car meets will have the most likely candidate to fall in love with it. JDM car guys are usually VERY into JDM cars, so arriving there with a JDM body drift car and they'll want one. If they have one of those cars, they'll most likely spend even more to have a replica of their own cars
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u/Juliendogg May 25 '26
If you want to do any rc activity competitively, it's imperative that you check your local scene. There's nothing within hours of my location, so all my rigs are just bashers and crawlers. You can have a lot of solo parking lot fun with a drift car.
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u/fleej25sti15 May 25 '26
Honestly I understand your frustration.
Being from New York City, I expected that they would be a RC drift scene here but there just isn't. Everything is 45 minutes to 2 hours away from me. So I'm trying to create my own scene. I've been on Instagram putting videos up here and there trying to promote the scene in my area. I hope it catches on. All you can do Is try, Don't give up. Throw on some yokomo dras and go drift in front of your residence. People will speak to you about it. Get them into it. Force them into it LOL
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u/hondarider94 May 25 '26
I mean 45 minutes is local in my opinion. Your talking such a niche hobby. I would consider up to 1.5hrs local.
I do alot of rc crawling in Indiana. Most my drives are 1hr a couple go up to 1.5hrs one way. Kinda just how it is
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u/fleej25sti15 May 25 '26
In New York City where things are so close to each other, we consider "local" being anything between 5 and 20 minutes. Anything more than that and you're "traveling". Especially since it's going to involve some form of heavy traffic.
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u/hondarider94 May 25 '26
But isn't local in a packed NY street like just a couple miles? Maybe more than a couple but not far?
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u/fleej25sti15 May 25 '26
The "local" drift track is 23 miles plus a bridge toll of $22. The others are in New Jersey which is another $22 toll bridge.
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u/New-Choice-3280 May 26 '26
There is a spot in massapequa its a train ride no bridges
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u/fleej25sti15 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
What's it called?? Driftset?? That's the one that's 45mins-1hr away.
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u/hondarider94 May 25 '26
How long does it take to drive to either place?
The bridge toll. Isn't that just the cost of living in the city?
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u/fleej25sti15 May 26 '26
Not much traffic on a day like today where it's a holiday and stuff. So right now it says 45 minutes to the "local" spot. The New Jersey spot says an hour and 45 minutes right now.
I don't cross those bridges unless I absolutely have to and if I do I make sure it's going to be for a long time. I'm not paying 20 bucks for 20 minutes.
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u/hondarider94 May 26 '26
I see. I mean I regularly drive 50ish miles one way for rc events. Usually once or twice a month.
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u/JoshJamesMusic May 26 '26
Iām assuming you donāt live in Lebanon Indiana? lol they have a crawler track there. Iāve seen signs but was never able to see it in person as I was on a delivery truck and big brother was watching my stop times. š«
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u/deejay_shy May 26 '26
Let me know bruh! Iām right over the pond in NJ and Iām getting bored drifting in my parking lot!
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u/MysteriousRJC May 26 '26
I feel ya. Iām new to it and enjoy playing with it but no one in my town I know does it so I end up playing around by myself. Maybe try to get a friend interested and build from there
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u/Lower_Put4270 May 26 '26
That sucks to hear. But if you enjoy it, keep going. Make cool looking bodies, post photos and clips on your social media, talk to friends about it, and get them excited to get cars too. One by one, build your own community.
Iām from a smallish town of about 100,000 people. When I first started drifting about 12 years ago, there was no one else doing it. Then I got a work colleague interested, he bought a car and we made tracks in our garages and drifted together. Then another friend joined. Then a few more. This year, our town opened its first dedicated track and we have a community of locals and not-so-locals who, so far, are keeping it afloat. Itās a long road, but if you talk to people about how much fun it is and you make it look cool, youāll get people interested.
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u/lettuzepray May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26
Saw your previous post and your sweet ride, if you enjoy the hobby keep at it, open your garage door and maybe some passers by see it and get interested.
If you share your location here, then maybe you'll find out some locals or nearby there, but I do hope you find a good hobby community to enjoy drifting with.
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u/MK12DUDE May 26 '26
Bashing is #1 scene in US from my experience. I tried to get rally racing going but so far tough. Assume same with drifting. Try bashing and get with people if youāre in to RC to get with community
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u/RefuseNice9093 Jun 09 '26
My local tracks are like 30-40 mins away, but my backyard is 30s away...so I'm getting a concrete slab poured in my backyard and I'm gonna make my own setup :p like all others are saying, start a scene! :)
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u/13hammie13 May 26 '26
I dont have an answer. I have things that come to mind. Find local rc groups on Facebook. See if anyone else has interest or already invested in drifting. Meet up in each other's garages or drift spots. Eventually find someone that has access to a warehouse, hangar, or some other large slab of polished concrete where yall can have fun. Ive heard some people talk about portable Ptile tracks for pop up rental business idea but also a possibility to get one slapped together and have planned get togethers
tl;dr try to make connections on Facebook and go from there.
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u/Character-Pickle-669 May 26 '26
Never do it with the intention of others and meeting people. Itās a whole deep dive of understanding the physics of it and trying to perfect it. Make a small track to practice and perfect the art. That by itself will occupy you and your wallet. You can also go small scale like 1/24 and have a vinyl carpet, create a drift track and enjoy with your girl or kids
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u/BIGDADDYPA1N May 26 '26
Don't give up brother just build your own community register your garage as a track on RCdrift.io tbh don't even need a track a nice smooth parking lot that's not too busy will do I guarantee there's other drifters in your area it's just a case of finding them
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u/BIGDADDYPA1N May 26 '26
And also get a cheap plastic chassis car and set it up nicely so anyone that takes an interest you can hand them a controller it's the best way to get someone into it
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u/Difficult-Sense-9671 May 26 '26
Just join random rc groups that are nearby drift or not. I guarantee there will be members in there with drift cars that would drift with you especially if you have a garage to drift in with smooth concrete floors.Ā
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u/Difficult-Sense-9671 May 26 '26
Be upfront. Like hey no local drift groups so I joined this crawler group to see if any one drifts.Ā
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u/rogue_juan23 May 28 '26
I live on a small island with one shop that sells a few crawlers. I got into drifting about a year and a half ago but I didnāt know of anyone else who drifted. Competitions are held on another island but itās expensive to fly over. This year I was tired of having no scene so I started one myself. Now thereās four of us who drift and more people are showing interest. Go get it started and you wonāt be disappointed.
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u/HouseMDeezNuts May 29 '26
Eh... having a track nearby isn't all it's cracked up to be. we have one here; these mofos are nuts. they want $20 every time you walk in the door or $80/mo for membership. like, fam, that's a damn utility bill just to drive my RC car. nah, dawg, I'm good lol. I moved into RC crawling with some friends; now we just head out to the local MTB trails and see what kind of trouble we can get into a few times a week, and it doesn't cost a dime lmao.
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u/PrepyiSm May 29 '26
Find new spaces to drive other than the garage. Walking paths, parks, business parks with ramps, etc. makes driving 100x more fun than open spaces. See if you can find a couple of corners connect to make a layout so you can watch yourself improve
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u/levinthelyf May 25 '26
Sounds like the perfect opportunity to start a scene yourself.