Well, I didn't really mean to imply that...
Mario Kart Wii's drift mode is very scripted, but in a way that provides for different karts/bikes to behave differently during a drift. The most notable thing about "manual drifting" on MKW is that during a drift the input is filtered so as to give the illusion of counter-steering and allows the player to have a limited effect on the direction of the drift, instead of it being totally scripted.
An auto-drift mode for VDrift might do some of the following things:
- use components of the drift scoring algorithm to determine if the player is trying to drift
- once this has been determined, gradually turn on "drift assistance" which does partial throttle modulation and steering control
- throttle modulation would be similar to TCS, but instead of inhibiting wheel spin it would control it to a certain drifting-optimal range (not too little, not too much*, and smooth out any harsh throttle blips)
- steering control, similarly, would inhibit steering except within a certain optimal range (counter-steering)
- the player still has control over the steering and throttle, but within the optimal range determined by the throttle modulation/steering control systems
* The ideal wheel slip ranges for drifting a given car might best be determined through trial and error and stored as car settings
A couple of game options would be needed:
- toggle: enable auto-drift
- slider: auto-drift max steering control (0% - 100%)
- slider: auto-drift max throttle control (0% - 100%)
The latter two options would be used as scalars to tweak the performance of auto-drift, basically, how much does it limit the player's input to the optimal values versus how much control is left to the player.
This would be useful for AI drifting, which would basically use the same input filtering, perhaps set at 100% for both steering and throttle control. It would also help players learn how to drift, and encourage/reward them more (making the game more fun to play). For players who don't want it, auto-drift could simply be turned off.