My experience is that you can brake later and enter corners faster with RWD than AWD cars. The AWD cars are however more stable (easy to drive) for rookies), and they have a traction advantage on corner exits and standing starts.
My problem with AWD cars is that it is more difficult to get a feeling for how much grip you have to spare. It feels like it is on rails until it is too late, and the rails leave the track/road, no matter what you do. With RWD you get more signals as you are approaching the limit, and I find it easier to save the situation.
Traditionally, most sports cars and race cars have RWD because it is more rewarding to the driver, and faster on dry tarmac. For rally cars and VERY powerful sports/race-cars, it does however make sense to have AWD to get the power down.
For cars with tuned turbo engines with lots of turbo lag, AWD can make it less difficult to drive. RWD is more suited to engines with quick throttle response.
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