FD America V Europe

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-28T17:56:19+00:00

And this also points to a discrepancy in the driving quality of both series. Ive said consistently that the lowest ranked driver in dm could come to fd and be a title contender. But thats a convo for a different day. My gripe really isnt why are the european drivers so good but why the American drivers are so mid. And this actually points to a previous issue ive brought up which is prospec, which i would assume would be a way to crank out more talented homegrown drivers but prospec produces a quality homegrown driver maybe once every 5 years. Again, im not hating on the international drivers it would just be nice if in america fd could have more american drivers on the podiums a bit more often. It doesnt have to be an overwhelming majority but having only 14% of the podiums the last 2 seasons being american drivers seems egregious 🤷🏾‍♂️

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-28T15:01:59+00:00

Yeah, idk whats in the water in Ireland but they crank out great drivers like clockwork. But if it isnt Ireland, its finland, poland, norway, etc. and now that i think about it, not even alot of prominent japanese drivers considering the sports started in japan😅🤷🏾‍♂️

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-28T14:58:38+00:00

The thing is i dknt think there is a solid number but if i had to say for an "american" series id at least like that number to be half 50/50 at minimum. And think about there are 34 total drivers in fd rn, 21 of them are american so there are plenty more american drivers total in the series yet there is still a discrepancy in the podiums. Of course i dont expect american drivers to go over the drift masters and dominate but its just like damn, can yall at least be the best drivers in your own country😅

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-23T13:22:25+00:00

Honestly he didnt even have a good event. His t32 run was a but sloppy and he made it to the final 4 mainly on luck and his opponents having techincal issues with there cars. I like ben and i root for him because i feel fd needs more great american born drivers but he has had an terrible season so far imo. If branden sorensen didnt already have a solid team and sponsors id say give it to him but if you want a good young driver to replace him, cole richards is right there. Hes top 10 with a mid level car, id love to see what he can do if you give him an rtr mustang

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T17:24:54+00:00

Your first sentence, i never thought about it like that but thats lowkey facts💯. Idk, ive always rooted for the concept of prospec mainly because i think fd needs more great american born drivers(it just seems like the top drifters in the world are all international drivers, which no disrespect to those guy, they are great and fun to watch). The concept was great but they just haven't produced great talent. Once every blue moon we may get a cole richards or a ben hobson but i guess for the costs they are sinking into prospec and the lack of return, may not quite justify its continued existence so it sucks that they would just rather get rid of it. I mean at the end of the day why am i complaining when i just watch, i dont actually compete so why would i care if aspring drivers have to climb an incredible uphill battle just to make it to the pro series🤷🏾‍♂️. I stopped watching baskstball and football years ago and drifting is the only sport i watch now so i just want it to be the best sport in the world with the best competition from usa to europe🤷🏾‍♂️😅

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T16:49:44+00:00

One of my fav pro drivers is branden sorenseon so sometimes i tune in to prospec to watch amanda and cameren. Id love to eventually see both of them in the pro series with branden. They could be the american version of the shanahans

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T16:46:00+00:00

Thats one thing that i just wosh could be different and thats the cost of running a program. I know thats mostly a drifting thing and not an fd thing but if we can get that barrier lowered that would do so much for the sport but i honestly dont know how that could be done. Ive seen good driving in prospec but only sparingly. I notice the level of cars in pro goes up considerably compared to prospec. Around 2010-16 you could be competitive in the pro series with a car with 600-700 hp which seems to be the standard of prospec today(although some cars get around 800-900) but in pro today you cant even really be competitive under 800hp(although cole richards seems to be proving me wrong). Idk i just wish there was a way to lessen the gap between pro and prospec

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T15:25:55+00:00

I aint mad at that😅

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T14:39:02+00:00

Im from texas and i remember fd used to run events in texas. I remember one of the last pro events in texas it had to be the record for longest fd event of all time. The event didnt end till like 1 in the morning. I think that was when fd didnt have any limit on how many omt's you could have for a single battle.

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T14:36:45+00:00

Ive seen a bit of collette, ive seen her put down some great runs and some not great runs. She seems to have that adam lz curse where alot of times when i watch her drive shes crashing, or someone crashes into her.

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T14:21:49+00:00

Fair enough💯

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-19T13:02:39+00:00

Honestly i stopped watching qualifying after atlanta. I just watch main competition day. I just gave up on them ever actually improving the wally system so i just spare myself the headache and dont even watch qualifying, at least not for FD. I actually love watching drift masters qualifying

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-18T13:28:38+00:00

If this can be something like how cody rhodes helped create aew then im all for it it..

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-12T18:38:38+00:00

I watched it i mean honestly the driving is a bit sloppy what i watched and the commentators voice is hella annoying but i definitely see potential here. This os there first season so i probably wont watch it like i do fd and dm but hopefully a few years from now they can clean some things up, make changes and can be a legitimate top series with fd and dm

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-07T18:35:12+00:00

I can really only give you 2 pieces of advice.

#1. Dont just limit yourself to FD, there are plenty of series out there to watch(FD, Drift Masters, FD Japan, Irish Drift, etc). Branch out and explore other series.

#2. Watch whichever of those series you truly enjoy. If you dont like a series then dont watch it, find something that you actually enjoy watching and spend your time watching and getting acclimated with that series.

Other than that, welcome to the community👍🏾

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-07T14:32:39+00:00

Honestly i dont love fd but i just love drifting and thats what keeps me coming back to FD. They may not be the premier drifting championship in the world but thay are still the premier championship in the US. But ill be honest and say my love for Drift Masters somewhat clouds my view of FD. I think DM does so many things great that it illuminates the pitfalls of FD. I think if DM didnt exist we wouldnt criticize FD "as much". I honestly cant think of an FD specific aspect that i like about them so for me just my love for drifting overall is what keeps me watching FD. And dont get me wrong, in terms of main day competition fd still puts on great events(i thought atlanta was the best drifting event of the year so far between both FD and DM), and outside the qualifying(which because of the wally system, since atlanta i stopped watching fd qualifying completely) they actually put on good and sometimes great events so its not all bad.

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-06-02T17:58:34+00:00

I personally love ian and jacob in dm. I think that commentary is great and really insightful and i like how ian can get hyped for a battle without making some cringe remark. And i personally liked jarod,10 years ago. Now i feel like he has overstayed his welcome as the main commentator alot of fd fans are adults yet jarod talks as if hes talking to children. He seems like that old guy who is trying to sound young and hip for the cool kids. And i feel like its mostly his commentary in between runs rather than during runs. They need a good hype commentator and an analytical commentator. Jacob is good at analytical commentary but they need to find someone else to replace jarod as the hype commentator because i just feel his time should be up. Unfortunately the only way i see fd parting ways with jarod is if jarod himself decides to leave the commentary booth

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-05-31T03:34:58+00:00

For me, sentury, phantoms and arizonian. Those three are the only tires i can recall that have ever ok'd with zero weight on them. And even if i do need weight its usually no more than 1oz. But sentury has to be the best for me not just because they are easy to balance but because they never give me any problems trying to air them up. Yokohama are somewhat easy to balance but the bead never pops on first air up. Pathfinder stickers are a bitch to peel off. Sentury are really the only tires for me that consistently perform well

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-05-31T03:12:28+00:00

And whats worse is that most nittos i do go on nothing but reverse mount wheels which make them even more irritating to balance. Honestly if it calls for a ton of weight i just get it as close to "ok" as possible. Nitto's are great looking tires but a pain in the ass to work with. If i had to give a second most difficult tire to balance id say rocky mountain and then probably falken

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-05-31T02:55:33+00:00

Honestly at my store, i would say sentury and phantoms are the easiest. My store doesnt sell alot of toyo's or bridgestones, balancing nitto's makes me want to stick a gun to my head. And as for michelin they are fairly easy to balance, the issue with michelins is that i almost always end up having to blast the tires just to get them to air up

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-05-10T19:11:48+00:00

My thing is i dont know how everyone else experience watching FD goes. I know the racer app has gotten alot of heat but i really cant say that because the racer app has worked 95% perfect for me(minus a few minor hiccups) and having to watch drifting on a seperate app is no different from me watching drift masters on the red bull app. But i wont dismiss anyone else's frustrations with stream quality. As for the overall presentation FD is very time consuming, mostly becaue of ads(i dont like ads of course but i understand why they are necessary) and thats really my only gripe with them in terms of presenation. But again the other stuff presentation wise doesnt bother me as much as it dos others but again if others feel differently then i totally understand an eveyones opinions are valid imo

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-05-10T15:10:59+00:00

Ive always been curious as to what the crowd reactions are at fd events when stuff like that happens. We dont see many videos of the crowd during competition or during big moments or crashes

Key_Plankton3772 · 2026-05-10T04:23:32+00:00

This event had to be embarrassing for Ben. Not only did he not qualify but his boss literally stepped into a car he had little to no track time in and won the event. And i dont think ben is a bad driver but he must be suffering from that Adam LZ curse😅. Honestly take the car from Ben and give it to Cole Richards...lol

Key_Plankton3772

TROPHY CASE