"A car that tends neither to oversteer nor understeer when pushed to
the limit is said to have neutral handling. It seems intuitive that
race drivers would prefer a slight oversteer condition to rotate the
car around a corner, but this isn't usually the case for two reasons.
Accelerating early as the car passes the apex of a corner allows it to
gain extra speed down the following straight. The driver who
accelerates sooner and/or harder has a large advantage. The rear tires
need some excess traction to accelerate the car in this critical phase
of the corner, while the front tires can devote all their traction to
turning. So the car must be set up with a slight understeer or "tight"
tendency. Also, an oversteering car tends to be twitchy and ill
tempered, making a race car driver more likely to lose control during
a long race or when reacting to sudden situations in traffic.
Carroll Smith, in his book "Drive to Win", provides a detailed
explanation of why a fast race car must have a bit of understeer. Note
that this applies only to pavement racing. Dirt racing is a different
matter.
Even so, some successful race car drivers do prefer a bit of oversteer
in their cars, preferring a car which is less sedate and more willing
to turn into corners (or inside their opponents). It should be noted
that the judgement of a car's handling balance is not an objective
one. Driving style is a major factor in the apparent balance of a car.
This is why two drivers with identical cars on the same race team
often run with rather different balance settings from each other. And
both may call the balance of their cars 'neutral'."
I guess having oversteer, understeer, or neutral is a user preference
and related to how you like to drive. I remember seeing Jeremy on the
show "Top Gear" complain once because of a car oversteering too much,
but then the manufacturer drove it and told him he wasn't driving it
correctly.
Regards,
Mike.