One of the most important factors to a good-handling vehicle is balance. A significant contributor
to both tire adhesion and steering response, balance comes from the effective management of all
of the forces on a vehicle in motion, including weight distribution.
Understeer
Car "A" is in what is called an understeer condition, in which the car plows toward the outside of a curve . Even though the front wheels are turned towards the inside of turn, the nose of the car is trying to go straight ahead. This indicates that the front tires have less traction than the rear tires. Front-wheel-drive and other nose-heavy cars tend to understeer in many situations.
Oversteer
When there is more lateral grip at the front tires than at the rear, the usual result is oversteer. In the case of car “B”, the wheels are turned toward the outside of the turn in an effort to keep the car from spinning, or fishtailing. Oversteer often shows up on mid- or rear-engine cars, but it can also be induced in a fonrt-engine/rear-wheel-drive car when engine power overcomes available traction.
Some cars also have what is known as trailing or dropthrottle oversteer. In this situation, lifting off the throttle while turning transfers weight or load off the rear tires and onto the front tires. The result is more adhesion at the front, causing the rear to tend to step or swing out. In extreme cases it can result in a spin. Generally, neutral to slight understeer is desirable for road driving. Rally or dirt track racers often want to be able to induce controlled oversteer. Controlled oversteer is also used in the recently popular track sport of drifting.
