Oversteer vs Understeer: Which One Do You Prefer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ferrari_1996
  • 374 comments
  • 33,194 views

Oversteer vs Understeer

  • Oversteer

    Votes: 388 85.3%

  • Understeer

    Votes: 67 14.7%
  • Total voters
    455
Bobalob
only joking people it's gonna be a comfort hards vs racing softs thread.

That or some other equally pointless argumentative comparison.
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Well comfort hards and Racing softs are linked to oversteer because if the rear tires are comfort hard and the front are Racing Soft you will get oversteer.
 
I just watched a clip on mclaren's formula one team a few weeks ago where they talked about this topic. The head of engineering said that they always setup the car to understeer rather than oversteer, as the driver has more information and control at the front wheels than he does at the back.
In terms of fun, oversteer is always better. Its just less good for the lap times.
 
play2win_88
I just watched a clip on mclaren's formula one team a few weeks ago where they talked about this topic. The head of engineering said that they always setup the car to understeer rather than oversteer, as the driver has more information and control at the front wheels than he does at the back.
In terms of fun, oversteer is always better. Its just less good for the lap times.
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Are you sure understeer is better for lap times? Understeer causes you to corner more slowly because if you corner too fast you will go off the track. Also, did you watch F1 qualifying yesterday? Lewis Hamilton's car was oversteering so I don't think McLaren set up their cars to understeer. Button's was understeering but Hamilton's was oversteering. Or maybe it's because their driving styles are different. What do you think?
 
guy is totally wrong, probably talking about a drivers preference which is no doubt within a different scale to that we can imagine, and probably dialing understeer in to balance the car rather than run wide everywhere.

not to mention understeer would never produce more "feel".
 
The ideal handling car will just smoothly slide up to the outside on exit, without having to fight it up or down, that's what he's talking about, whether it's actual understeer or a 4 wheel drift is driver's preference.

In legends, the 4 wheel drift up to the wall is quickest but it feels really weird and takes some adjusting, obviously too much of a drift slows you down though

Also, what you set a car up for at the beginning doesn't necessarily mean that the car is going to stay that way either, everything is constantly changing, tire pressure and temps, and track temps, and rubber buildup, and loss of fuel(weight and balance) can drastically change the racing conditions
 
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Bobalob
1. understeer is not a four wheel drift.

2. your describing slight oversteer.
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I know they are different, no that's understeer, the front end is sliding up to the wall

Oversteer is a result of the front having more grip than the rear, I'm saying understeer will point you at the wall and it's up to you to keep it out of the wall
 
Roush_fan_99
I know they are different, no that's understeer, the front end is sliding up to the wall

Oversteer is a result of the front having more grip than the rear, I'm saying understeer will point you at the wall and it's up to you to keep it out of the wall
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so now we're understeering towards a wall which we have to do something about before crashing?

sounds good.
 
If I had to pick one, like oversteer because it's mindless fun. If you've been playing racing games for a decent amount of time, both understeer and oversteer constantly present themselves, and you subconciously know how to handle each. Like many of you, I don't even think about it.
 
Oversteer definitely, much more fun and easier to correct whereas in understeer you just have to watch your car or slow down. (that's not fun)
 
Bobalob
so now we're understeering towards a wall which we have to do something about before crashing?

sounds good.
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Not straight at the wall but it will keep you in a pefferred line of keeping the car as straight as possible, that's the goal, make the corner as round as possible without making any point too sharp, if you turn too sharp, you obviously lose speed, obviously too much of any condition is bad, you want the car to effortlessly slide up to the wall without hitting it but that's not all ways the case, there are many times where the corner makes intervene with an adjustment to keep out of the wall, I saw some diagrams somewhere on here that showed late apex and regular apex braking but I forgot where they were.

Oversteer is fun but not necessarily fast, i try to keep my car as balanced as possible, a tiny hint of either condition can be corrected by driver input, a lot of it has to do with how early/late you brake and how hard you pickup the throttle

Again don't take things so literal

THERE IS NO ONE SETUP THAT MAKES EVERY DRIVER HAPPY EITHER
 
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As long as we're talking about 500HP on sport soft oversteer and not 1000hp on comfort hard oversteer, I choose over. Understeer annoys the crap out of me.
 
Like some others mentioned with oversteer you don't really loose to much time and it can be fun but with understeer all you can really do is slow down which results in you loosing quite a bit of time and it's no fun at all IMO.
 
Crazed_Coupe
Like some others mentioned with oversteer you don't really loose to much time and it can be fun but with understeer all you can really do is slow down which results in you loosing quite a bit of time and it's no fun at all IMO.
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You lost me, you said it was fun but not fun?
 
EliteDreamer
What makes oversteer fun? I still don't get it after reading everyone's replies.
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It's just the fact that your getting the rear end out with a bunch of tire smoke and your only losing a tad bit of time if any, that right there makes it more appealing to most oppose to understeer IMO.

Edit: The only way to counteract understeer that I've come across is to slow down which isn't that fun...
 
Easing up on the steering is how you correct an understeering car. If you can shift a little bit of weight to the front that will help too, but usually doesn't seem to be enough by itself in my experience, and generally means slowing down a bit. Often after you get control back, particularly if your weight is better balanced, you can turn the wheels just as far as they were when they were sliding without losing grip. It's just really counter-intuitive to steer less when the car won't turn, you want to turn more, MORE!

Ideally I like a car that will oversteer a tiny bit into the corners, and understeer a tiny bit coming out. I can't stand a car that won't get into the corner, and if the tail comes out after the apex you're bound to lose gobs of time.
 
Morgoth_666
Easing up on the steering is how you correct an understeering car. If you can shift a little bit of weight to the front that will help too, but usually doesn't seem to be enough by itself in my experience, and generally means slowing down a bit. Often after you get control back, particularly if your weight is better balanced, you can turn the wheels just as far as they were when they were sliding without losing grip. It's just really counter-intuitive to steer less when the car won't turn, you want to turn more, MORE!

Ideally I like a car that will oversteer a tiny bit into the corners, and understeer a tiny bit coming out. I can't stand a car that won't get into the corner, and if the tail comes out after the apex you're bound to lose gobs of time.
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1. Easing up on the steering only makes it worse IMO considering your car is already having trouble turning within a corner so reducing the steering "power" will only make things worse.

2. Steering more will not make understeer go away, I used to have a bad problem with turning my wheel way beyond 180 degrees either way and it did nothing but make for even more understeer and loads of tire smoke. This is unless you slow down and put more steering "power" into play.

The most effective way to reduce understeer IMO is to maintain an effective steering angle while slowing down.
 
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Crazed_Coupe
It's just the fact that your getting the rear end out with a bunch of tire smoke and your only losing a tad bit of time if any, that right there makes it more appealing to most oppose to understeer IMO.

Edit: The only way to counteract understeer that I've come across is to slow down which isn't that fun...
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Right here you were. I think Morgoth was responding to my question to.
 
I took all the posts below mine as responses to my question. I still don't understand. Explain in a better way please.
 
EliteDreamer
I took all the posts below mine as responses to my question. I still don't understand. Explain in a better way please.
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I've already explained myself multiple times and if your trying to be sarcastic, don't be over the internet please. 👍
 
I'm not being sarcastic in any way. I just don't understand that's all and your explanation wasn't enough to convince me why it's fun.
 

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