Talk:MotorFiesta 1/@comment-27630866-20160512081543/@comment-26249703-20160512084301

With downforce-dependant cars like this one and the F14 T, yes (up to a point). Prepare yourself for an overly-simplified explanation, hoping I don't get anything wrong. Mechanical grip (which is affected by tyres, suspension, mass, centre of gravity and a heap of other things) is pretty much a fixed value. If you take a car going around a corner of a specific radius at a specific speed, the grip either be enough to go around the corner in a neutral stance, or it won't, leading to understeer or oversteer: loss of grip.

Aerodynamic grip (or downforce), is the effect of air going past the body and creating lift or downforce. Obviously you don't want lift, especially if it's greater than the normal force of the vehicle (mass x gravity = weight) as the car would lift off the ground followed by not-so-good things. Downforce, however, "pushes" the car down meaning (this is where I get a bit foggy) the force needed for the tyres to slip is much higher. Since downforce is proportional to the square of the velocity (doubling the speed will quadruple the downforce), the faster you go, the more downforce you have.

However, the faster you go, the bigger your turning radius is, so you can't go flat out everywhere :P And I think there is a bit of a transition period between mechanical grip and downforce where you have less grip than either.