Optical diametric drive acceleration with positive- and negative-effective mass fields has been realized in nonlinear photonic lattices. By numerically calculating and analyzing the accelerations in different parameters of the interacting beams and in that of the photonic lattices, we demonstrate that the effective beam mass should be defined as the inverse of the Bloch band curvature multiplied by the beam power. The beam acceleration is actually determined by the effective beam mass, and thus long distance diametric drive acceleration can be achieved by adjusting the beam power to match the band curvature. In addition, two beams located in the first and second bands respectively can also achieve diametric drive acceleration and the self-acceleration direction will reverse during propagation.