Snap oversteer

Snap oversteer is the tendency of mid-engine design cars to spin out of control easily, often catching inexperienced drivers unaware.

Causes

Snap oversteer is when a vehicle spins dramatically during a turn (usually unexpectedly). This is most common with mid-mounted engine, rear wheel drive (MR) vehicles. Mid-mounted engine vehicles have a much lower rotational inertia than a vehicles with a front mounted or rear mounted engine. The lower rotational inertia of mid-mounted engine vehicles causes the vehicle to spin much faster than a front or rear mounted engine vehicle. Snap oversteer if unexpected can catch the driver off guard when cornering, ultimately leading to loss of control of the vehicle.

Snap oversteer is actually realistically a way of saying when a car oversteers it does so quickly. With the engine in the middle mid-engined cars rotate faster (hence their superior cornering abilities). In the real world an average driver can simply react to changes faster and enjoy more involving driver car interaction.

Snap oversteer is induced when the throttle is lifted while mid-way through a corner, often by inexperienced drivers trying to reduce speed after braking too little. With mid-engine vehicles the rule for cornering is "slow in, fast out", rather than "fast in, slow out" for front-engine vehicles. Mid-engine cars are setup with more understeer to prevent entering corners with too much speed.