Drifting and Powersliding: Let loose with the Toyota GR86

After months of sane reviews of the Toyota GR86, it’s time for some rambling. We say goodbye to our endurance tester.

It takes very little to ramp up the Toyota; a tight right angle bend will do. The basis of this driving pleasure is the rear-wheel drive and the limited-slip differential. Only a few manufacturers still offer a self-locking differential as standard for vehicles with rear-wheel drive.

The Toyota GR86

Mazda does that on the MX-5, but most sports cars – if they even have a limited slip differential – have an electronically controlled, variable one. On the one hand, to be able to cope well with the explosive and enormous torque build-up in today’s turbo world, but also to be able to act as an open differential in situations when the throttle is released and thus prevent understeer. If not the GR86; The basic equipment includes a Torsen differential. He delivers honest mechanical pleasure. It’s up to the driver to enjoy it to the fullest. This is how it should be in a driver-only car.

This also includes the 2.4-liter four-cylinder boxer naturally aspirated engine, which only reaches its peak at 7000 rpm and gradually releases its power. This allows the power to be well dosed and distributed to both rear wheels via the lock, in the direction of the tire with the most grip, so as not to waste power on a spinning inner wheel. The Torsen differential locks well and you can therefore be controlled. Simply turn into the poison gas, put your right foot through and the Toyota GR86 drives off. Nothing to complain about! Still, there’s always room for upgrades.

Drifting and Powersliding

For more precise drift work, a more aggressive and direct working differential lock would be a nice addition. You now have a very short wait time when starting a drift. You push in hard, arrive in time with the accelerator pedal and then have to wait a fraction of a second for the power to reach the (outer) wheel with the most grip. Then the Toyota GR86 slides over. Even on a wet roundabout with a large radius, it is noticeable that the inside wheel spins first before it locks.

But also that a Torsen differential becomes more difficult when the differences in grip and wheel speed between the two rear tires increase. With a burst of gas you can easily get it over a wet roundabout, but then the load on the inside wheel is relieved and there is also more pressure on the outside rear wheel. This leads to a big difference in grip between the two and then the differential struggles to transfer power to the grippy outer rear wheel. This reduces the slip angle in the drift, you cannot easily increase it again by accelerating and the cornering radius becomes smaller. In addition, it does not move particularly quickly in an oversteer action, but gets stuck in the sideways movement.

Admittedly, these are luxury problems. You can easily wipe with it. On a dry roundabout, the Toyota GR86 can be drifted more precisely. The inner front wheel perfectly matches the white line, while the rear axle leaves two beautiful black stripes on the road surface. A nice aggressive disc brake could therefore be a nice upgrade for the freaks who like maximum and more direct control when steering with the accelerator. Otherwise, the handling is very convincing.

Perhaps most striking is the almost unreal grip of the front axle. It’s unprecedented how hard you can attack corners. Even on wet asphalt, it obediently bites the desired line. The steering is very natural, well balanced, very precise and generous with feedback. You have the feeling of standing between the front wheels.

With the Toyota GR86 we will have even more fun

Understeer really only occurs when you turn too hard in wet conditions. In addition, it is almost always the rear axle that releases first. As mentioned, this is due to the rotary lock, which acts as an open differential in gas-off situations so that the rear does not press when retracting. You give in, sometimes you have to give in a little more and then your nose bites further. It boosts confidence and makes driving really fun because you know what’s going to happen.

In short: In the Toyota GR86 it is wonderfully easy to get a breath of fresh air. We will do that soon in a beautiful control area not far from the Netherlands.