Drifting is a high-skill, high-powered motorsport that calls for drivers to control a 450hp car while it slides sideways at high speed through a marked course. It is similar to rally racing, but is done on a closed course and judged on execution and style rather than who finishes the course fastest. Drifting takes all the thrilling moments of traditional motorsports and packs it together into non-stop competition. The D1 Grand Prix takes the excitement one step further by being the only drifting competition that features aggressive side-by-side action as finalists burn up the course two-at-a-time often only inches apart.

Drifting pros finesse their cars into spectacular powerslides around a series of corners of a set course as powerful engines roar and the tires bellow smoke. The driver controls engine power, shifts gears and feathers the brake pedal, while at the same time spinning the steering wheel in a precise fashion from left to right linking corners with pinpoint accuracy. The driver is controlling and maneuvering the car beyond the limits of the tires' traction.

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Drifting has evolved into a competitive sport where drivers compete in rear-wheel drive cars to keep their cars sideways as long as possible. At the top levels of competition, especially the D1 Grand Prix from Japan and others in Malaysia, Australia, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Formula-Drift in the United States, and New Zealand, these drivers are able to keep their cars sliding for extended periods of time, often through several turns. Drifting is still not recognised by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) motorsport's governing body, as a professional form of motorsport.