Real life Drift and RC Drift are Two Completely different Sports..

In Real life, Yes RWD is King.. in RC Drift All Wheel Drive is King

With RC Drift, a RWD chassis will try and Push the rear wheels past the Fronts and Induce nauseating and annoying spin as there is no applied Force to Direct the wheels in the direction of the Slide.. Sure with a fair bit of Speed and some Handling robbing wieght over the front and Lightning quick reflex's it could be done...

An AWD chassis is needed to RC drift sucessfully and here is why

The Normal AWD RC car has a Pretty much 50/50 Split Power system, Rear get half and the front Gets Half (This is Variable between set ups)
So the Front wheels guide the slide and Pull the Car Through the Corner while the rears kick the tail out, now because the front wheels have Power applied to them they are able to keep the Rear of the Chassis in line with the front and is able to move sideways throught the corner, Like a Crab..

Remove the power from the front wheels and the chassis will induce spin as there is no force to counter act the rears tailing out..

This is not to say that RC Drifting is Easy as you still have to counter steer like you would do in real life to avoid a Total Spin but with an AWD Chassis this task is made 75% Easier.

In general, Yes, RC Cars Cheat, they use a Hard Compound Tyre, Like ABS or PVC Plastic..
Less friction is need to induce the slide.. The Smoother the surface the Better it is for RC drift..