Often in drifting, the term Countersteering or Opposite Lock Steering - is used to describe the steering technique drivers utilize to maintain control of an oversteering or drifting vehicle. Countersteering is fundamental to drifting because without accurate countersteering, the car will spin to a stop.

Countersteering begins when the car starts to oversteer or drift. That is, the REAR wheels do not track behind the front wheels but instead slide toward the outside of the turn in a more straight-line trajectory due to the vehicle’s momentum.

Once the car starts drifting you must countersteer. For example: Say you are about to drift a right hand turn like in the example above. When entering the corner you turn the steering wheel to the RIGHT to get the car going in that direction. If you have enough speed, the car is going to oversteer and the rear end of the car will be sliding outward because of momentum. To keep the car on the road or from spinning out, you must countersteer by turning the steering wheel to the LEFT. Countersteering is the only way to keep the car from spinning to a stop.

Originally, the term Countersteering refers to a motorcycle riding technique for turning where the rider presses the handlebars on the same side that they are tuning and leaning to make the motorcycle corner. For example: When making a right turn on a motorcycle, you would apply pressure to the right handlebar grip while leaning to the right. The act of applying pressure to the right handlebar grip is the Countersteering since the front wheel briefly turns to the left while you are turning right. This Countersteering is required to initiate a turn on a motorcycle.

Drifting has sense took the term Countersteering and added it to its growing drift dictionary. Keiichi “Drift King” Tsuchiya and D1 Grand Prix promotional materials both have adapted the term Countersteering when referencing drifting.