>>1812548
I also leave manual drift off. Tried online tutorials, but agree (>>1812616) that it's difficult to manual drift.
Default drift doesn't hurt ability to compete in ranked because the game algorithm matches you against players of similar skill. But it will reduce scores, especially on tracks where it's hard to hold combo.
Smart steering tries to pull me away from track shortcuts sometimes so I just always leave it off. Auto item is a personal preference, but having it on drops your defense while items load so it should be turned off for battles and multiplayer.