What's oversteer and understeer?

[duragezic]

I'm more interested in it in that I want to know about it for a racing game on the comp... but I assume it's the same thing in real life.

 

[amnesiac]

Oversteer: turn the wheel a little bit and car turns a LOT
understeer: turn the wheel a lot, car moves not as much.

 

[duragezic]

So if something has "too much oversteer", it is too sensitive/turns to much? Would that be the same as "too little understeer"?

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Understeer = when you turn really hard, you continue to go straight

oversteer = you turn really hard and the rear end slips out...

pretty simple basic explanation...for a more detailed one..read here

 

[halik]

say youre going down a curved road:
Understear would mean the car keeps going straight even though you turned the weel and you'd fly off the road. Happens on FWD cars.
Oversteer would mean the car's back flies out and you spin out. Hapeens on RWD cars.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: amnesiac 2.0
Oversteer: turn the wheel a little bit and car turns a LOT
understeer: turn the wheel a lot, car moves not as much.

Wrong.

The Madd Indian has it right.

 

[Evadman]

They both realy have it right, but Mad Indian's is "more right"

Understeer is when the car keeps wanting to go straight even when you turn the wheel.

Oversteer is when the car goes farther than you want it to. Usually caused by a loose rear, with the rear end sliding out.

If you have to choose one, choose oversteer. it is much easier to control than understeer.

 

[SHoddyCOmp]

We have a prime example of understeer on tape when my dad in a gokart race whacked into a wall and hyperextended his knee. You could see the wheels turned but the kart going straight. Thats no good. He races a full size car now though. I would rather have a little oversteer than a little understeer, lots of other people seem to think the other way around though....

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: SHoddyCOmp
We have a prime example of understeer on tape when my dad in a gokart race whacked into a wall and hyperextended his knee. You could see the wheels turned but the kart going straight. Thats no good. He races a full size car now though. I would rather have a little oversteer than a little understeer, lots of other people seem to think the other way around though....

For your average, unexperianced driver, understeer is far safer than oversteer.

 

[BCYL]

Originally posted by: SHoddyCOmp
We have a prime example of understeer on tape when my dad in a gokart race whacked into a wall and hyperextended his knee. You could see the wheels turned but the kart going straight. Thats no good. He races a full size car now though. I would rather have a little oversteer than a little understeer, lots of other people seem to think the other way around though....

For the average driver understeer is safer than oversteer.... most people dont know how to recover when the tail end starts to slip out...

When the car starts to lose control, most ppl will either let off the throttle and/or get on the brakes... which is what you DONT want to do during an oversteer....

 

[Moonbeam]

Taurus Major and Taurus Minor.

 

[CocaCola5]

Just about every car on the road is understeer(even the neutral bimmer 3 series). Thus, its not very accurate imo, to say understeer is safer than oversteer since virtually all are understeering. I mean a NSX is somewhat oversteer, does that make it less safe to drive than say a Prelude?

 

[CocaCola5]

Personally, I like to believe a heavily understeering car is much more dangerous than a oversteering one(especially at speeds).

 

[Turkey]

Understeering and oversteering only happen at the limits of the car's traction. You can make just about any car understeer or oversteer by doing the right (or wrong) things with the brake, gas, and steering wheel.

Just about every car on the road is understeer(even the neutral bimmer 3 series). Thus, its not very accurate imo, to say understeer is safer than oversteer since virtually all are understeering. I mean a NSX is somewhat oversteer, does that make it less safe to drive than say a Prelude?

Almost all cars are set up to understeer much more easily than oversteer... it's a property of the weight distribution, suspension, and tires. You can make small modifications to any car's understeer/oversteer behavior by changing the tire pressures, and make large modifications by changing the suspension. And for the vast majority of drivers, understeer is much safer than oversteer, because people tend to hit the brakes hard when they feel their car losing traction. If the car oversteers easily, people's panic behavior would more likely cause an accident than prevent it. Which is why most cars are set up to understeer much more easily than oversteer.

Originally posted by: CocaCola5
Personally, I like to believe a heavily understeering car is much more dangerous than a oversteering one(especially at speeds).

Why would you believe that? The way to pull out of an oversteer is to accelerate, and to get out of an understeer you brake (basically and generally). You will always be able to brake more effectively than accelerate, especially at speed b/c of drag, and if you are driving a RWD car and you accelerate too hard to get out of an oversteer, you will actually cause power-on oversteer.