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The ideal handling state where front and rear tires reach their grip limits simultaneously. A neutral-handling car feels balanced and predictable, rotating smoothly through corners without pushing or sliding.
Bentley describes the feel in Ultimate Speed Secrets: "Neutral steer is when both the front and rear tires lose traction at the same speed or cornering limit and all four tires are at the same slip angle. Sometimes described as being in a four-wheel-drift, this is ideally what a driver is striving for when adjusting the handling of the car." He adds: "I love the feeling when I'm controlling the balance of the car with the throttle, driving through a fast, sweeping turn at the limit. If the car begins to oversteer a little, I squeeze on more throttle to transfer weight to the rear; if it starts to understeer, I ease off slightly." Going Faster! explains why neutral is fastest: "Of the two cornering attitudes, the oversteering car certainly looks faster than the understeering car. The best cornering speed, however, doesn't come from either of these setups" — because "the ultimate cornering grip available from a tire comes in a narrow range of slip angle."