diff --git a/rest_framework/compat.py b/rest_framework/compat.py
index cee430a84..bda346fa8 100644
--- a/rest_framework/compat.py
+++ b/rest_framework/compat.py
@@ -178,6 +178,13 @@ except (ImportError, SyntaxError):
     uritemplate = None
 
 
+# requests is optional
+try:
+    import requests
+except ImportError:
+    requests = None
+
+
 # Django-guardian is optional. Import only if guardian is in INSTALLED_APPS
 # Fixes (#1712). We keep the try/except for the test suite.
 guardian = None
diff --git a/rest_framework/test.py b/rest_framework/test.py
index fd9f6ab13..2eab5ba20 100644
--- a/rest_framework/test.py
+++ b/rest_framework/test.py
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 # to make it harder for the user to import the wrong thing without realizing.
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
+import io
+
 from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.handlers.wsgi import WSGIHandler
 from django.test import testcases
 from django.test.client import Client as DjangoClient
 from django.test.client import RequestFactory as DjangoRequestFactory
@@ -13,6 +16,7 @@ from django.utils import six
 from django.utils.encoding import force_bytes
 from django.utils.http import urlencode
 
+from rest_framework.compat import requests
 from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 
 
@@ -21,6 +25,107 @@ def force_authenticate(request, user=None, token=None):
     request._force_auth_token = token
 
 
+if requests is not None:
+    class HeaderDict(requests.packages.urllib3._collections.HTTPHeaderDict):
+        def get_all(self, key, default):
+            return self.getheaders(key)
+
+    class MockOriginalResponse(object):
+        def __init__(self, headers):
+            self.msg = HeaderDict(headers)
+            self.closed = False
+
+        def isclosed(self):
+            return self.closed
+
+        def close(self):
+            self.closed = True
+
+    class DjangoTestAdapter(requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter):
+        """
+        A transport adapter for `requests`, that makes requests via the
+        Django WSGI app, rather than making actual HTTP requests over the network.
+        """
+        def __init__(self):
+            self.app = WSGIHandler()
+            self.factory = DjangoRequestFactory()
+
+        def get_environ(self, request):
+            """
+            Given a `requests.PreparedRequest` instance, return a WSGI environ dict.
+            """
+            method = request.method
+            url = request.url
+            kwargs = {}
+
+            # Set request content, if any exists.
+            if request.body is not None:
+                kwargs['data'] = request.body
+            if 'content-type' in request.headers:
+                kwargs['content_type'] = request.headers['content-type']
+
+            # Set request headers.
+            for key, value in request.headers.items():
+                key = key.upper()
+                if key in ('CONNECTION', 'CONTENT-LENGTH', 'CONTENT-TYPE'):
+                    continue
+                kwargs['HTTP_%s' % key.replace('-', '_')] = value
+
+            return self.factory.generic(method, url, **kwargs).environ
+
+        def send(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
+            """
+            Make an outgoing request to the Django WSGI application.
+            """
+            raw_kwargs = {}
+
+            def start_response(wsgi_status, wsgi_headers):
+                status, _, reason = wsgi_status.partition(' ')
+                raw_kwargs['status'] = int(status)
+                raw_kwargs['reason'] = reason
+                raw_kwargs['headers'] = wsgi_headers
+                raw_kwargs['version'] = 11
+                raw_kwargs['preload_content'] = False
+                raw_kwargs['original_response'] = MockOriginalResponse(wsgi_headers)
+
+            # Make the outgoing request via WSGI.
+            environ = self.get_environ(request)
+            wsgi_response = self.app(environ, start_response)
+
+            # Build the underlying urllib3.HTTPResponse
+            raw_kwargs['body'] = io.BytesIO(b''.join(wsgi_response))
+            raw = requests.packages.urllib3.HTTPResponse(**raw_kwargs)
+
+            # Build the requests.Response
+            return self.build_response(request, raw)
+
+        def close(self):
+            pass
+
+    class DjangoTestSession(requests.Session):
+        def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+            super(DjangoTestSession, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+
+            adapter = DjangoTestAdapter()
+            hostnames = list(settings.ALLOWED_HOSTS) + ['testserver']
+
+            for hostname in hostnames:
+                if hostname == '*':
+                    hostname = ''
+                self.mount('http://%s' % hostname, adapter)
+                self.mount('https://%s' % hostname, adapter)
+
+        def request(self, method, url, *args, **kwargs):
+            if ':' not in url:
+                url = 'http://testserver/' + url.lstrip('/')
+            return super(DjangoTestSession, self).request(method, url, *args, **kwargs)
+
+
+def get_requests_client():
+    assert requests is not None, 'requests must be installed'
+    return DjangoTestSession()
+
+
 class APIRequestFactory(DjangoRequestFactory):
     renderer_classes_list = api_settings.TEST_REQUEST_RENDERER_CLASSES
     default_format = api_settings.TEST_REQUEST_DEFAULT_FORMAT
diff --git a/tests/test_requests_client.py b/tests/test_requests_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..37bde1092
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_requests_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,247 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import unittest
+
+from django.conf.urls import url
+from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, login
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+from django.shortcuts import redirect
+from django.test import override_settings
+from django.utils.decorators import method_decorator
+from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_protect, ensure_csrf_cookie
+
+from rest_framework.compat import is_authenticated, requests
+from rest_framework.response import Response
+from rest_framework.test import APITestCase, get_requests_client
+from rest_framework.views import APIView
+
+
+class Root(APIView):
+    def get(self, request):
+        return Response({
+            'method': request.method,
+            'query_params': request.query_params,
+        })
+
+    def post(self, request):
+        files = {
+            key: (value.name, value.read())
+            for key, value in request.FILES.items()
+        }
+        post = request.POST
+        json = None
+        if request.META.get('CONTENT_TYPE') == 'application/json':
+            json = request.data
+
+        return Response({
+            'method': request.method,
+            'query_params': request.query_params,
+            'POST': post,
+            'FILES': files,
+            'JSON': json
+        })
+
+
+class HeadersView(APIView):
+    def get(self, request):
+        headers = {
+            key[5:].replace('_', '-'): value
+            for key, value in request.META.items()
+            if key.startswith('HTTP_')
+        }
+        return Response({
+            'method': request.method,
+            'headers': headers
+        })
+
+
+class SessionView(APIView):
+    def get(self, request):
+        return Response({
+            key: value for key, value in request.session.items()
+        })
+
+    def post(self, request):
+        for key, value in request.data.items():
+            request.session[key] = value
+        return Response({
+            key: value for key, value in request.session.items()
+        })
+
+
+class AuthView(APIView):
+    @method_decorator(ensure_csrf_cookie)
+    def get(self, request):
+        if is_authenticated(request.user):
+            username = request.user.username
+        else:
+            username = None
+        return Response({
+            'username': username
+        })
+
+    @method_decorator(csrf_protect)
+    def post(self, request):
+        username = request.data['username']
+        password = request.data['password']
+        user = authenticate(username=username, password=password)
+        if user is None:
+            return Response({'error': 'incorrect credentials'})
+        login(request, user)
+        return redirect('/auth/')
+
+
+urlpatterns = [
+    url(r'^$', Root.as_view()),
+    url(r'^headers/$', HeadersView.as_view()),
+    url(r'^session/$', SessionView.as_view()),
+    url(r'^auth/$', AuthView.as_view()),
+]
+
+
+@unittest.skipUnless(requests, 'requests not installed')
+@override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF='tests.test_requests_client')
+class RequestsClientTests(APITestCase):
+    def test_get_request(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.get('/')
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'method': 'GET',
+            'query_params': {}
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_get_request_query_params_in_url(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.get('/?key=value')
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'method': 'GET',
+            'query_params': {'key': 'value'}
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_get_request_query_params_by_kwarg(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.get('/', params={'key': 'value'})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'method': 'GET',
+            'query_params': {'key': 'value'}
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_get_with_headers(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.get('/headers/', headers={'User-Agent': 'example'})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        headers = response.json()['headers']
+        assert headers['USER-AGENT'] == 'example'
+
+    def test_post_form_request(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.post('/', data={'key': 'value'})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'method': 'POST',
+            'query_params': {},
+            'POST': {'key': 'value'},
+            'FILES': {},
+            'JSON': None
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_post_json_request(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.post('/', json={'key': 'value'})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'method': 'POST',
+            'query_params': {},
+            'POST': {},
+            'FILES': {},
+            'JSON': {'key': 'value'}
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_post_multipart_request(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        files = {
+            'file': ('report.csv', 'some,data,to,send\nanother,row,to,send\n')
+        }
+        response = client.post('/', files=files)
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'method': 'POST',
+            'query_params': {},
+            'FILES': {'file': ['report.csv', 'some,data,to,send\nanother,row,to,send\n']},
+            'POST': {},
+            'JSON': None
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_session(self):
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.get('/session/')
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {}
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+        response = client.post('/session/', json={'example': 'abc'})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {'example': 'abc'}
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+        response = client.get('/session/')
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {'example': 'abc'}
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+    def test_auth(self):
+        # Confirm session is not authenticated
+        client = get_requests_client()
+        response = client.get('/auth/')
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'username': None
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+        assert 'csrftoken' in response.cookies
+        csrftoken = response.cookies['csrftoken']
+
+        user = User.objects.create(username='tom')
+        user.set_password('password')
+        user.save()
+
+        # Perform a login
+        response = client.post('/auth/', json={
+            'username': 'tom',
+            'password': 'password'
+        }, headers={'X-CSRFToken': csrftoken})
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'username': 'tom'
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected
+
+        # Confirm session is authenticated
+        response = client.get('/auth/')
+        assert response.status_code == 200
+        assert response.headers['Content-Type'] == 'application/json'
+        expected = {
+            'username': 'tom'
+        }
+        assert response.json() == expected