Weird, the reason I drifted that way is because I thought if you hold one direction for too long there the drifting completely breaks and you start running into the wall.
Nope. It all depends on the wall itself and and the angle of your drift. At the point I'm talking about for example, you have to start your drift at the right time and hold the control stick at a precise angle. Something like diagonal up-left, but closer to the left than up. Starting it too early will cause the wall to push Sonic away and slow him down. Drifting too tightly will cause Sonic's drifting to break and stop completely very early on, but if you drift correctly you should be able to make it almost all the way to the end. It's as if the wall stops you itself if you don't drop the drift in time. It's like Sonic Team made it that way on purpose. Some walls are impossible to drift on like the walls before where you have to slide under rocks or at the part where you quick step because the game doesn't left you drift lol. I've played the demo for almost three hours straight today. xD
Another weird thing I noticed was the wonders of the D-pad. The D-pad can be used to move Sonic as well. Omochao didn't tell you that shit, that little bastard. Anyway, if you hold right with the D-pad before you hit the second speed strip with the pit of platforms and rails and short hop correctly (it seems like Sonic has two height variations on his short hop depending on how you tap the jump button) almost immediately after you hit that strip then Sonic will clear the gap completely almost every time. The farthest I got was past the speed strips before the ramp once. Never been able to do it again haha. Using the D-pad instead of the control stick for the 2D sections seem to give you more hang time than normal at certain spots which can be useful and bad. Also, I think the D-pad is better for tricks and switching rails. =)