Oversteer vs Understeer: Which One Do You Prefer?
- Thread starter Ferrari_1996
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Ferrari_1996
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- Ferrari_1996
Ferrari_1996
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- Ferrari_1996
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For racing yes. If cars oversteered on a daily basis people would be losing control a lot more often than when they understeer. Front heavy cars with lower horse power/torque will have a very difficult time swapping ends.
When you turn your wheel and your car is going too fast to make the turn, it slides straight ahead until speed is reduced enough for the front wheels to regain traction. Then the car will turn in. With a well balanced car it could do the same thing. But, once you slow down enough for the front to regain traction the rear could step out. This would put you into a spin right after thinking you had recovered from the loss of grip at the front end.
A well balanced car is great for racing because you can corner at higher speeds when the weight is evenly distributed front to rear when the car is in a neutral state.
When you turn your wheel and your car is going too fast to make the turn, it slides straight ahead until speed is reduced enough for the front wheels to regain traction. Then the car will turn in. With a well balanced car it could do the same thing. But, once you slow down enough for the front to regain traction the rear could step out. This would put you into a spin right after thinking you had recovered from the loss of grip at the front end.
A well balanced car is great for racing because you can corner at higher speeds when the weight is evenly distributed front to rear when the car is in a neutral state.
Most people are more interested in talking on their phone than doing the primary task at hand in the left hand front seat (excluding UK and Aussies). Then you want them to actually be able to DRIVE the car?
Good GOD man what where you THINKING!?!
Ferrari_1996
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- Ferrari_1996
Most people are more interested in talking on their phone than doing the primary task at hand in the left hand front seat (excluding UK and Aussies). Then you want them to actually be able to DRIVE the car?
Good GOD man what where you THINKING!?!
Umm...I have no idea what you said. What are you trying to say?
- 1,542
- Chicago, IL
- iamsupernasty
Understeer is easier to control. Understeer is engineered into 95% of street cars as a basic safety feature. When you enter a turn too fast and the car starts the slide (understeer), the natural reaction for most people is to take their foot off the gas. If you do that in an understeering car, it will regain grip and you can drive away without issue.
If oversteer was engineered into street cars, people would enter turns too fast and start to oversteer. If that happens and they take their foot off the gas, the car will spin and cause a potentially fatal accident. The natural reaction of most people is not too hit the gas when they start to slide (the way to fix oversteer).
This is the same reason you ALWAYS put new tires on the rear (regardless of FF vs FR). You always want the car to understeer before it oversteers in street applications.
In racing, I don't think anybody actually prefers understeer (it's always slower and make the car **** to drive hard) - I think the people that voted for it simply mean they prefer a car that doesn't oversteer. Some people prefer a car looser than others, but nobody likes a car that pushes everywhere.
The goal is usually to have a neutral car that will turn in sharply and rotate, without flipping sideways at every turn. Sometimes you want more rotation for certain tracks though, and will dial in a little loose-ness. Sometimes you want a little less rotation, and will dial in some push.
Ferrari_1996
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- Ferrari_1996
Yes but isn't neutral easier to control than understeer? Why aren't street cars Neutral?
- 4,741
- Bogota,Colombia
- GTP_ARP93
Oversteer for me.
Both should be avoided if you plan on doing a fast laptime, and both are avoided trough delicate car control. But...OVERSTEER IS FUN MAN!
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I just can't stand a car that spears right into a corner. It just annoys me more than a car that's tail happy. Maybe because I can control tail-happiness a bit easier than understeer, but that's just me. I somehow have the idea an oversteery car is more controllable and can fare a more variated number of corners than understeery cars.
Here's a N00B question I'd like to ask just to be sure: How does the driver avoid both oversteer and understeer? As far as I understand there are various reasons for them to happen, but the most common one for understeer is a lack of braking so it's cured braking waaaay earlier. And oversteer is when there's an excess of throttle that causes the rear-end to lose grip and give way to the centrifugal forces, moving to the outside of the corner. Am I right? What else is too know about this two phenomena?
Both should be avoided if you plan on doing a fast laptime, and both are avoided trough delicate car control. But...OVERSTEER IS FUN MAN!
.I just can't stand a car that spears right into a corner. It just annoys me more than a car that's tail happy. Maybe because I can control tail-happiness a bit easier than understeer, but that's just me. I somehow have the idea an oversteery car is more controllable and can fare a more variated number of corners than understeery cars.
Here's a N00B question I'd like to ask just to be sure: How does the driver avoid both oversteer and understeer? As far as I understand there are various reasons for them to happen, but the most common one for understeer is a lack of braking so it's cured braking waaaay earlier. And oversteer is when there's an excess of throttle that causes the rear-end to lose grip and give way to the centrifugal forces, moving to the outside of the corner. Am I right? What else is too know about this two phenomena?
- 1,542
- Chicago, IL
- iamsupernasty
There are a few reasons I can think of, and I'm sure there are more.
For one, a Neutral car can turn loose very quickly depending on conditions and tire wear.
Also, it's much harder to make a car neutral. It doesn't make sense for companies to put that much effort to create a totally neutral car. BMW does it, as do a few other manufacturers.... For the most part though there is no point in spending millions of dollars in R&D to make a Buick LeSabre (for example) have a neutral chassis. In real life, most people will never feel a car understeer/oversteer anyway.
- 1,542
- Chicago, IL
- iamsupernasty
A driver will be aware of his cars handling characterless, and modify his driving style to fit. Like you said, a car that understeers needs to be slowed down and turned-in earlier. A car that is loose needs to be braked in a straight line and the driver needs to be very careful about upsetting the suspension. A loose car can over steer even without the throttle very easily, and controlling that car requires managing this properly.
Controlling a car that oversteers, is all about being smooth.
- 2,191
- San Francisco,
- machate-man
- dowby
Neutral is (given you're a geek about handeling) what the ideal kind of cornering is during racing. It's what racing teams strive to have on their cars, but are only able to have one or the other:
Understeer or Oversteer
Most race cars are tuned for oversteer, as understeer is unsafe in a racing situations
What I was saying was a tongue in cheek remark how stuff has to be designed for the lowest common denominator anymore. Dont perceive it as an attack on you at all.
Most cars are FWD because people are not bright enough to go buy snow tires or drive appropriately in bad weather. Cars are built to plow in the event of loss of control because it has the better of two evils.
Clips are put on floor mats because people are not able to check their surroundings PRIOR to starting the car and blame wadded up floor mats under pedals, over pedals, around pedals for loss of control.
Tire pressure warnings are mandated because, again, people cant be held responsible for checking their car prior to driving it.
Heck, even in the MR2 world there was a redesign of the rear suspension because people kept spinning them out due to a non-phenomenon called snap over steer. No such thing exists; its called driver error.
So in a litigious society, manufacturers tend to cater to the lowest denominator because who wants a ton of lawsuits?
Rotary Junkie
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- Canton, MI
- RJs_RX-7
Personally... A mix of all.
Slightly loose in, neutral through the center, slightly tight out. Which is actually why most "perfectly balanced" cars drive me batty, they push in, neutral on center, and wind up loose out.
Slightly loose in, neutral through the center, slightly tight out. Which is actually why most "perfectly balanced" cars drive me batty, they push in, neutral on center, and wind up loose out.
- 5,249
- Gothenburg
- jaco_bin
Well... Oversteer could be very dangerous for inexperienced drivers. There are times cars are tuned for understeer to then become more neutral when the tires are heated.Most race cars are tuned for oversteer, as understeer is unsafe in a racing situations
Most high-power race cars oversteer due to their sheer power. So a "hint" of understeer could be preferred.
But I'm probably all wrong.
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- 5,814
- Hillsboro Oregon
- XDesperado67
- XDesperado67
Actually I beg to differ over the idea that shear power causes oversteer. There is a distinct difference at least in my mind between Oversteer and sliding the rear end out due to the application of power. For myself what I term Oversteer is when a car can generate enough grip with its front tires that it becomes almost twitchy, where a more delicate touch is required on the steering to prevent the car from turning in sharper than intended. If you look at most muscle cars they tend to understeer badly and yet they can still swap ends quickly through to much throttle input. So to me if a car is traveling at a given rate of speed and I turn the wheel a car that plows on ahead or drifts wide of the turn I'm trying to execute then that's understeer. One that has a tendency to snap over and turn inside the desired line of travel is experiencing oversteer. These should not be confused with throttle steer which can at times be related to the underlying handling of the car but not always. So if I turn the wheel sharply in my 400 HP muscle car and stomp on the gas chances are that I'll get wheelspin causing the rear end to lose traction, and its likely the front end if understeering will reaquire traction first possibly leading to a spin out but by no means did the car change from understeering to oversteering I just forced it to react.
Similarly my 400 HP FWD will see its understeer worsened most likely by my stomping on the throttle since the front wheels were already having trouble finding traction.
Ferrari_1996
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- Ferrari_1996
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- ib_96
Oversteer because it's fun.
Ferrari_1996
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- xCGx-MaRc-xCGx
Ferrari_1996
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Correct. When I say new form of motorsport, I mean more recent than most others
Yeah baby!!! Do I win a free car?
OT: Do you like drifting? I love fighting with the car to gain control (when it oversteers). Understeer is so annoying. It hate that screeching sound when cars understeer. I feel like grabbing the car with my hand and turning it myself as it is so stubborn to turn!!! FR cars are more likely to oversteer and FF cars are more likely to understeer, right?
- 55
- xCGx-MaRc-xCGx
Unfortunately you don't win a car
but yeah I love drifting, that's the only type of lobby I join online
- 756
- Buenos Aires
- jaycee_xr3
I prefer neutral, obviously... but if forced to choose, the oversteer is easier to compensate.
