BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TOUGE 

Another thing to mention would be to stay in your lane and not cross double yellows, especially around blind corners. Also for newer drivers, don't be afraid to ask questions, you always want to be open to improving your driving ability. Another good thing to study is proper driving techniques (rev match, heal/toe, trail braking, weight transfer, seat positioning, & hand placement on your steering wheel). For most of these tehchniques, its better to practice on an open road before hitting your local back road/touge. Other than that, pretty solid advice!

TIP: Don’t blast music to the point where you can’t hear your engine or tires!!!! If you’re gonna be driving like this, you wanna be able to hear your car! if your tires are losing grip, or if something is going wrong with your motor, suspension, ect. Stay safe 🙏🏽

My number 1 tip for driving touge, and thats coming from a German who regularly drives in the Eifel area (that's where the Nürburgring is, there's tons of twisty mountain roads there) is that you should build experience and very importantly don't always drive in groups. Drive alone from time to time to get to know your current limits and to get into your own groove on that road. Like in Initial D, Takumi built up all that experience and got that fast because he was driving alone constantly and it makes sense. There's much less distractions and nobody is setting the tempo for you. Another tip is to not always listen to music. I get that it's fun to listen to something in the background, but having it off means you get to hear all sounds your car makes on the street so you can notice tire squeaking and even bad engine noises much sooner and even get to know the sounds your car makes usually. Drive safe and have fun!

Another tip: Radar detector. Helped me out so many times when doing spirited driving. Not all cops are outfitted with radars or have them on all the time. But getting a detector gives you the ability to see which car has them on and where they are. Investing in a decent quality around 200-300 will give you a bit more confidence, especially at night. Some detectors even have arrow signifiers to show you where they're coming from so you don't have to frantically look around.

The chassis that really stands out for the touge is a Honda Fit, no joke Honda fits are the fastest cars on my local roads (excluding NA Miata’s). I think the biggest when looking for a car is weight, not type of car.

I don't have too much experience since I'm still young at 17, but I will say that if you plan on bringing a much heavier car to the touge, the most important thing is making sure you have good brakes and pads. I drive an '09 audi a5 3.2, and brake fade has scared me and nearly sent me off a road a few too many times. Please do not overdo it and get too excited, racing a 911 in your heavy boat through hard curves will never end up well. After my soul leaving my body and a pair of slightly pissed pants, I threw away my ego (my pants) and started driving within the limits of my car and myself.

I think you missed one really, really important thing. Do a full run down of your wearable items before you leave for the touge. Tires, brakes, nut and bolt check your tie rods, lug nuts, headlights, oil level, make sure theres nothing leaking in the engine bay, etc. You have to treat touge like motorsport. Harmonics loosen things up, brake fluid breaks down, brakes wear out, your alignment can change and cause uneven wear in your tires, a small oil/fuel leak can start a fire if your turbo starts glowing, things like that. Taking the extra bit of time not only gets you closer to the car you drive and give you more confidence, but it can save your life and others around you. You have to respect touge and everything that comes with it. Stay safe everyone and have fun

Should do a video on how to prevent a crash. Oversteer/understeer, racing lines, brake zones, things not to do such as braking mid corner, liftoff oversteer, down shifting/rev matching, how to save yourself from over/understeer, etc etc. Number one reason I see crashes is because people lack a basic understanding of what causes them to crash.

Any 90s hatch like a civic, golf, fiesta, 106 etc. Will be more fun than a GT-R for a touge, specially in very tight roads you just gotta make sure to keep the momentum

here in florida i have like one short twisty road 40 mins away from me 💀

Great video, seriously. I've been doing Touge since 1999. I am so glad it is still alive and has become very niche and not trendy or overly popular as it became 2001-2005 and then died off (thanks Fast and Furious) Now a days it's so, so rare to find people who understand, respect, and enjoy Touge. I am constantly looking back each year at how long I've been doing it. I've had a road in Reno, NV called Geiger Grade that I've been driving and riding since 2011 to present day... love it. My home is basically on the road as well. Also to note I worked my way up from lower hp and lighter vehicles to higher hp vehicles that are heavier and man it's been a long, long journey but I have loved it.

Great info Griffin! I've been driving the togue since I was 16. My friend who came from Hong Kong convinced me to go on a drive with him on our local pass. He drove fast and introduced me to togue racing/spirited driving. He had a 94 Accord, and me in my 96 Mazda 626. Fast forward 16 years, I'm in a 15 Corolla S (which I bought to replace my 626 lol), and still in that same town and drive that pass every day for work and drive it at some nights. Now FF cars aren't the best per se, but they still have good handling. I'd switch to sport springs and see if that works for suspension. If you want, add a sway bar next. Though for me, I need better tires because mine are some random brand that came with the used car I got lol. I would like to get an MX-5 though...hopefully(?) I agree with your disclaimers. All excellent points, particularly the first one. There's some turns which may seem easy, but are super deceptive and become tighter, so you'll need to practice it. I know there are 2 turns that still cause my blood to go cold sometimes if I go over a certain speed despite driving the togue for over 15 years. Great content man! Keep it up!

Good delivery and info. Love the message, safety first, respect the road and others, do it for the love of driving not the bragging rights. Keep up the good work brother!

General edicate for pedestrian cars is how japan car culture has stayed alive for so long. They understand the importance of not drawing unnecessary attention.

You should drive the road you want to learn during the day. Drive slowly and try to learn where the road changes textures, major bumps as well as the general road geometry. Lots of things you can't see at night are really obvious in the daylight.

I’m not a new driver but have little experience to touge or spirited driving. sadly, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and limits 3 months back resulted in losing my is300 in a canyon run with some buddies after only having it for 3 days … I’ve been watching multiple videos on do’s and don’ts because last month i got myself another is300 and this time I’m being way more cautious about how I drive and learn the road so it won’t happen again. So far, I still have the car and have been learning so much slowly but surely and most importantly, safely. Great video! Hopefully I can start capturing my moments on my channel so I can show my growth and Experience as I progress.

Great point about how outright speed isn't the most important for togue. I once had a spontaneous uphill race with a B4 Legacy in my '89 BG Familia GTX. We were right close the whole time until we got to a straighter section and he finally gapped me. It wasn't the longest race but we were both going hard and it is still one of the most intense races of my life lol

Great video! Absolutely for sure never ever be letting your ego drive your car. My first time ever going on a touge run, i almost crashed due to me being in a 5200 lb car, and not knowojg how the handling is in very tight corners.

Very good guide. I'd add, brakes... They need to be good, even more in cars that tend to suffer with brake fade (i.e. FA5 SIs). The same goes to tires

Totally true regarding power. I was driving my 450hp track car and got passed in the twistiest section by a black NA Miata. So I picked up an NA Miata. So much fun and 86hp can be a blast!

Love the video. All great advice! I will add the disclaimer that some people prefer fwd or awd and may find those more fun. Not me, but they exist. Also if you have a convertible, your first upgrade other than brake pads and fluid and making sure your tires are 5 years old or newer should be a roll bar. Safety first

I am 19 years old. I live in the city of Novorossiysk, it is a mountainous area, and there are mountain roads. Recently I got my license and I take a Corolla 1.6 from my grandfather on the mechanic, and from my mother Yaris Verso on the automatic transmission, Yaris is very convenient for mountain roads. But I'm not racing yet. I have almost finished my studies as a navigator. I have already saved up 70 thousand rubles and I want to take the e36 for 2.0, in our region BMWs cost about 200-250 thousand rubles. I really want to do spirited driving. Your videos help people like me, I always thought that the most important thing is safety.

Been togue driving a base model 5 speed Corolla for half a decade, upgraded my brakes/suspension and it is all I could ever ask for to have fun on the mountains

Love the video! It’s great to hear this advice as I try to learn and get better

I never heard of togue until now and wow am I interested. It’s so badass. This video explains so much about togue that I had no clue about but now that I’m going to get into it, I’ll know what ti look for in the videos.

Love this style of video. you’re killing it g

Another Tip I would say is to learn from others. If you know someone who is faster than you or has more experience maybe you could sit with them in their vehicle and watch what they do

Nice. I grew up Togue driving. Though I never called it that, I had my favourite mountainous road and I would drive the heck out of that route every day to the point I knew it like the back of my hand. I even had a few spontaneous races which was always super fun. Unfortunately I had to move away and haven't been able to drive that particular road for a long time. It would be great to go and revisit it again some day :)

Awesome thanks for the tips Griffin stay safe out there, we don't want to lose an awesome content creator

you knocked it out of the park with this video! GS!!!

Thanks for this video. It was my birthday yesterday and I was having fun driving but couldnt do any of this. Also thanks for sending me the autobody recommendation. That place is great.

I totally agree on you disclaimers. Ive had a very close call on angeles forest where i lost control of my miata thinking i was good to drive faster then what i was comfortable and blasting music. I learned after a few years that i really need to hear my engine and my tires more in order to get a full grasp on my car. On my daily drive to and from work there is a touge i always take (unless its raining very hard since i dont have abs or tc) i have learned alot in the few months ive driven it and continue to learn the characteristics of my miata every day.

Yoo Griffin, I love the touge shirt merch I just got. It looks so good in person.

pretty solid video. you covered almost everything on good driving etiquette. I would have just added in that your line should always be in your lane. crossing the double yellow is tempting when you feel like its safe, but this can create bad habits. if you always practice your line within your own lane. you never have to worry about smashing into oncoming traffic.

We've been waiting for this🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

This is a great video! To your point about driving within your limits, the best thing you could do with the car that you would take on the touge is take it to a open track day a few times. This is the safest way to learn driving technique and most importantly what the limit of your car is. When you take your car on public roads and push it, you absolutely must know what the car’s limit is so you don’t get surprised when the stakes are higher.

I'm inheriting a 6spd 2012 sapphyre blue hatchback versa when I get my license back a week after my birthday... I live in the Poconos in Pennsylvania, my touge is the Appalachian Mountains... after my house is national conservation so idk about you guys but it sounds like *I have to touge this hatchback versa* after fine tuning it, of course. Extremely articulate and precise commentary, great video all around. The quality in this content is what brings us all back, no matter how long they take to create. The three of you are like modern day "e46/bmx content Adam LZ" before he is the absolute mogul he is today. I anticipate taking a seat amongst your YT audience and watch this hilarious/informative/inspiring show. nun but love !

another part about doing touges, learn how your car handles when it slides first. if you're going fast and your car loses control, you wanna be able to control it and save it. i recommend starting donuts in the snow both ways, then little drifts, then doing it in rain. this way you get a good transition

im lovin your content man!

Massive respect my guy, it's WAY, WAY too rare to find safe, skilled drivers like yourself, at least where I live. Whenever I start racing with a random guy on the touge, 9 out of 10 times he's clearly a moron (either dangerous or doesn't know how to "properly" drive fast....and that's....dangerous) and I don't wish to race him again. Then comes the "respect your surroundings aspect" which you practically never see, even among skilled drivers. You look like a fellow skilled, respectful AND SAFE driver. Would love to chase you, in a world where we lived in the same area. Also own a slightly modded G184 :D Keep up what you're doing bro

I wish Griffin can do an episode about tire and tire pressure! Amazing video! Very mindful and helpful!

The best videos,Tsuchi and you, greetings from Croatia

So useful man! thank you

The disclaimer is spot on. Respectful and considerate! Griffin is my kinda guy

Awesome Video Man Thanks For The Info

ahhh a tutorial coming from the legendary touge driver himself 🙏 truly an honor

these are genuinely good tips

Just recently bought a 6-6 accord and want to do touge. Went touge on 5th gen prelude and had so much fun

Really enjoyed this video. I think it's important to mention to bring safety equipment such as tire repair and fire estinguisher, do not want to start a forest fire. Also checking for potholes and overhanging trees on google maps. Logs and branches can fall making those roads really risky, especially with slippery tree sap!

Great video, will be using this information for driving

Excellent, excellent video. Couldn't have said that better myself 👏👏👏👏👏

I have a mr2/mrs and you definitely have to learn how to drive mr before trying to rip it at the canyon and as far as the snap oversteer; it's usually caused by driver error. The second gen is more prone to it I believe but a lot of the time it can be controlled if you have the experience and seat time. Good video tho, well said!

The insights in this video could one day save my life

good tips, and always watch out for wild life!

Car selection: You dont really need to have an "enthusiast" car to drive touge. They're way better but Ive seen people go fast in their stock grocery getters with shitty CVTs. Its also about knowing your car. The limits, strengths, weaknesses, etc. along with your own as a driver. Items to bring: First Aid Kit. My number 1 suggestion is to have in your car is some sort of First Aid Kit. Doesnt matter if its just a small boo-boo kit(bandaids and disinfectant wipes), IFAK(Individual First Aid Kit), or even a full sized Emergency FAK. The bigger is obviously better, I honestly suggest an IFAK, but having even just a small one meant for tiny cuts is better than not having one at all. Flash light. If you're on an un-lit road, and its dark asf, seeing what is around in the event of road side maintenance such as flat tyre, or worse a crash. You can also use it to let other drivers that there is a hazard ahead. High Visibility Vest. In the event that you are outside of your car, wearing something that makes you more visible while you're on the side of the road can save you. Brief story time: Having a boo-boo kit on hand in my bag saved my friend's ass when we got into a pretty bad crash. She fortunately just waked away with road rash on her arm. Just to make sure everything was disinfected and covered up until she could get to a hospital while we cleaned debris off the road, got the car towed, etc. The next day, I went and upgraded to an IFAK.

Next gen Option Video content right here 🇯🇵

keep it up griffin ur amazing :-)

well said griffin, good video man👍

gotta love the volvo v70 touge

Damn, half of the video being a disclaimer Props to safety; I remember specifically a classmate of mine totaled their BMW because they were overly excited to have their license (I happened to pass by the wreck and my friend’s GTI at the side of the road, and I later pulled over to call and check on them) Being new to the act of touge itself, I’m starting out with an EK sedan as I’m the most familiar with Honda’s compact cars as I grew up sim racing with things like the EK9 and DC2, and I plan to hone my driving to see what I can do with 106 hp and my small budget

i dont think ive ever been this early to a vid and this is a good one to be early to

Excellent video griffin

I'm so jealous you can find a twisty road within 20 minutes of you lmao. I need to move. For those who don't live in Cali you may need to bump that travel time to over an hour. Some places just won't have a road... make a weekend trip of it. Good luck homies

I've never opened up RU-vid to the more perfect thing to learn about, upcoming my new life decisions. Fbody getting sideways for a hobby is a childhood dream of mine. Soon to be truly fulfilled.

i have a 55hp 2010 vw fox 1.2 and live very close to the nürburgring, ive done quite some laps with it in the last years (im 21 now and got the car at late 17) and over the years i have explored some local roads and found quite some nice touge roads but theres absolutely no one else doing this. but ive never really done it at night. the roads are super far off from much used ones and dont connect points of interest, i will try it very soon. the advantage is seeing if someone is coming around the corner thanks to the headlights reflecting on the guardrail. theres no village directly at them and im quite sure they cant hear the tires screeching so calling the police shouldnt be a problem, also i dont think anyone has ever noticed me driving race pace, as soon as i see a car, a biker or anyone else, i slow down early enough to not even make them think its me, even if they might have heard the tires. but my car looks 100% slow. but it isnt. id say i am a very good driver, i am a professional simracer at 5000+ hours, 20.000+ laps nürburgring nordschleife, i smoke tracktools on the nürburgring in reallife in the corners but im yet to properly set up the car, its on stock suspension, it keeps breaking a spring, the dampers need to be replaced by now, i got stock brakes, its basically just some good wide sport tires. but do you have a clue what to do if theres a malfunction, an accident or maybe just the engine giving up (mines got 218k km now and uses quite a lot of oil), how i can get back home? do you always have buddies around or ready to call? cause thats not gonna work for me and id have to call some officials to tow the car, maybe involve the police, then im just looking stupid and be in their heads in future… do you have equipment in place to do easier fixes at the road? should i prepare for that?

great video man

Nice video on just some of the starting basics ; v cool

Can't wait to see the new s13 on the togue. Griffins about to be the uphill king lol

Finallyyyyyy 🔥🔥

Im glad that i live in colorado. Because we have a great selection of mountain roads.

I use a 7th Gen Celica for this, the suspension on It's platform is dialed in well, so it just stays flat through the corners, and with the front-wheel-drive, the understeer is nice and predictable.

Really helpful thank yo 😌

Thanks so much for making this video man, i love you (no homo)

currently using a 1999 2.5 RS impreza to learn this style of driving. All I can say is this slow little thing is way more fun that my STI and feels faster in a weird way

my papa and i always tried this backthen, i miss those days

I got a lot of miles on bikes in canyons, a pair of tyres every 6 weeks although i switched to dirt a while ago. You pretty much covered everything. Oh, if you see a group of bike behind you, just let them pass.

I cannot overstate the importance of seat time just as you said! Im running a base model 6th gen Civic CX hatch. Ive done EXTENSIVE suspension work on her, but the powertrain is stock minus the intake and exhaust. I make maybe 70hp, but she tears up the togue thanks to seat time. My setup is pretty simple actually. Shes semi-stripped, has full undercladding, a splitter and diffuser, and an adjustable rear wing. My suspension is pretty extensive though, as I said. •Apexi Type V coilovers •EK9 front LCA's •Eibach swaybars •Skunk 2 rear LCA's •K-Tuned front & rear camber arms •K-Tuned swaybar endlinks •Energy bushings all around Wheels and tires are TE37SL's wrapped in Firestone Firehawk tires. She is purpose built for tight tracks and the touge. Some things I reccomend. Get a helmet. I havent done my roll cage yet, but I would never run the touge without my helmet on. Get one with good visibility. Get your alignment done regularly if you race your car on tight windy roads. It will save you tons in tires and make sure your car is handling optimally. Please keep a fire extinguisher with you. Trust me. You'll need it some day. Been there without one. Would never do it again. For your own safety, keep a decent trauma kit with you so you can patch yourself up in a pinch if you crash. It could save your life. And a radar detector. I recommend the Valentine One. Its expensive, but mine has saved my ass at least a dozen times, and 1 reckless driving ticket will run you the same, if not more, than a Valentine One. Thats all I have for you guys. Drive safe.

Use high beam for bends even if not off siding i dip for most bends at speed to see if anythings coming and it gives you way more info even if its just a flick back to low beam then back to high the more info the better

My 3rd gen prelude is also awesome at this, it has 4 wheel steering though so it helps a lot.

i also cannot emphasize how important this is: stay in your lane, especially for blind corners!! this isn't a race track, so don't drive it like it is one. on a race track, you don't have to ever worry about oncomming traffic. another good point is that on these narrow roads, having a car with a bunch of horsepower won't really help as much, and ull find yourself enjoying smaller lighter cars 10x more since you pretty much have to brake for corners every few hundred meters

* snap oversteer is NOT a thing * I have to say this cuz "snap oversteer" is USUALLY used in a incorrect way. ppl usually use that term as a "scare" tactic. ( and its usually only put on the mr2 platform and it gives the platform a bad omen ) its exactly what you said earlier.. "driver mod". snap over steer happens because of "driver" error and not platform issues. you can " snap " oversteer in ANY platform. go into a corner incorrectly and let off the throttle / give it too much throttle at the wrong time and when the car unloads and loads back up quickly and "snaps" in the opposite direction , THATS snap oversteer. My touge car is a 01 2zz mr2 spyder. they dont just "snap". they only do things YOU make them do. they are machines. they dont have a mind of their own. with that being said , great video !

I bought my prelude for this very reason out of all the fwd Hondas the prelude has the best suspension set up in my opinion not including integras I’ve driven modified civics and stock ones on the touge but the prelude in its stock form just does it better I’ve never felt so on rails in a fwd car coming through the corners it just does everything I want it to and more

This was helpful.

Thanks a lot!

every single highschool in the Bay area had atleast one drag race kid that died on a mountain road in a ford mustang. I think it's important for beginners to do dumb shit like skidding around in a parking lot so that they can learn what will make their car start sliding out of control and avoid that when taking turns on actual roads. Cant tell you how many times I've been in a car that started sliding and the first thing the driver did was instinctively stomp on the brakes mid corner. Also should probably stress the importance of a manual transmission/automatic with a manual gear select option. The few close calls I've had on winding roads was when my transmission decided to downshift mid corner and caused me to lose traction. No matter the brand, you really cannot trust an automatic transmission when going downhill. Ironically, CVT transmissions are horrible in many aspects, but in my experience they are less likely to send a jolt through the drivetrain and cause you to spin out than a regular automatic.

Solid advice even for veterans.

Love you griffin❤

I have a honda fit. It rips through my local roads. I keep up with gt86s and I kept up with an audi on my local touge.

Griffin uploaded, everyone liked that

My main peice of advice would be dont push it when your angry. Every car ive binned was driving angry, in some way i was being self destructive but it always kept me in a bad mood driving agressive and even more so if you crash. Driving a mild pace is actually soothing and you end up feeling alot better afterwards. Mods note: start with decent tyres and brake pads and then turn to suspension. Cooking your brake down hill is a scary experiences and can end your night early. Tyres are the only thing connecting you to the road ( i rate bridgstone potenza for budget ). Suspension will give you more controll over the car, i usually go for a chunky sway bar and mid range dampening on the coilovers. After that i would go for a seat and maybe a steering wheel if you want and some good quality strut braces. At that point you have yourself a good set up to go have fun, be safe, hone your skill and start beating some proper fast cars like the the legendary GTR😂

Thoughts on the 7th gen Toyota Celica? Has a very low center of gravity and only weights about 1.100kgs with 192hp,pretty short gears and a 6 speed trans.

Take notes people there will be a test next Tuesday!!! Lol nice vid

Less gooo✨🤩

Great video

Nice 💯

Also weather matters the most after foogyness it tends to make the road slippery, thats so important, cold weather makes ur car less grippy so watchout

Good video bro

Imagine living by anywhere suitable to drive like this. Thanks Midwest.

would love to do this. unfortunate i live in the part of my country where the deer population is the highest and a deer crash is very very likely especially at night

thats crazy thats my home course calaveras/sierra road. i live like five minutes from it