Worried About Your Car Drifting Outward on Corners? Yoon Chul-soo Driving Academy Reveals 5 Common Misconceptions About Out-In-Out Cornering and Their Solutions

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The most common mistake beginner drivers make is turning the steering wheel as much as possible before a curve. Intuitively, they think "turning more sharply will let me navigate a sharper corner," but this is completely backwards. In fact, doing this causes the vehicle's center of gravity to shift rapidly, making it easier for the tires to reach their grip limit. As a result, the car experiences understeer, where the vehicle drifts outward on the corner.

What President Shim Jae-woo of the YCS Motorsports Group emphasizes is precisely this point. The key to safe cornering is drawing a long arc with a gentle steering angle. It's about gradually shifting the car's weight and maintaining consistent grip on the tires. From entering the curve to exiting, the steering should be adjusted smoothly and at small angles.

Key Point: Keep the steering angle small and smooth — this is the first principle of stable vehicle control.

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Many beginner drivers brake before a corner, and brake again. This leads to a repeated pattern of sharp deceleration just before the corner. When this happens, the car's body compresses forward, then the rear drops as you enter the corner, leaving you in an unstable state. It's like not timing your feet correctly when jumping rope — you keep getting caught.

The core of out-in-out cornering is deceleration timing. You need to gradually slow the car from the moment you see the corner. By the time you're just before entering the corner, you should have nearly finished decelerating. During corner entry, minimize both acceleration and braking, focusing only on direction change. This way, the tires can dedicate their energy to vehicle control, and sufficient grip is maintained.

This is precisely what's emphasized in 1-on-1 lessons at Yoon Chul-soo Driving Academy. If you know and execute the three correct timings — braking point, acceleration start point, and steering turn-in point — you can achieve much safer and more relaxed cornering at the same speed.

Key Point: Timing determines driving stability more than speed.

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Do you find your eyes getting stuck on the road directly in front of your car while driving? If so, it becomes even more dangerous in high-performance driving or sharp corners. Most beginner drivers try to look only at where the car currently is. But this is driving without preparation.

The second key to safe cornering is sending your gaze ahead to the corner exit. In other words, while your car is still entering the corner, your eyes should already be following the path to exit the corner. Your brain automatically responds to steer the car toward where your eyes are looking. Therefore, if your sight line is at the exit, your hands and feet will naturally guide the car in that direction.

This is exactly the 'line reading' technique learned in circuit driving. The first task in the YCS Motorsports Group's supercar coaching program is this very thing. Simply changing your sight line allows for much smoother and more confident driving through the same curve.

Key Point: Your eyes look at the future, not the present — forward-looking sight lines are the foundation of safe driving.

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When exiting an entrance ramp onto the highway, that anxiety isn't simply because you're a beginner. In most cases, it's because your vehicle is at an angle relative to the main traffic, not aligned properly. In other words, the car isn't positioned correctly in the lane as you try to merge, making it feel dangerous.

Correct driving positioning means gradually aligning yourself from the entrance ramp toward the exact center of the target lane on the main road. It's not about giving the angle too early or too late, but adjusting at exactly the right timing with the right angle. When done correctly, your car is already in a stable state as it enters the main traffic, and acceleration feels natural.

This is a frequent observation from President Shim Jae-woo's supercar 1-on-1 lessons: "If positioning is wrong, speed is meaningless." When positioning is correct, even beginners can confidently change lanes.

Key Point: Your fear isn't from poor driving — it's from positioning errors.

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Beginner drivers panic the moment their car drifts slightly on wet roads. From then on, they either drastically reduce speed or grip the steering wheel so tightly from excessive tension that their driving becomes stiff. But this actually makes things more dangerous. Very slow speeds combined with excessive tension actually obscure your sense of tire grip limits.

True safe driving means being able to immediately detect an error and recover from it. If your car drifts slightly, don't suddenly turn the wheel sharply — instead, gently straighten it while realigning the car's direction. This is exactly the essence of defensive driving learned in circuit driving.

What Chairman Yoon Chul-soo emphasizes at the YCS Motorsports Group is precisely this point. The dangerous situation itself isn't the problem; what determines safety is the ability to detect and respond to dangerous situations. Therefore, training to feel and experience the car's responses in various conditions during normal driving is crucial.

Key Point: Error recovery ability, not perfect driving, creates real-world safety.

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Here's a practical method you can apply to actual roads to overcome the 5 misconceptions above:

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At the Driving Academy of the YCS Motorsports Group located in Jung-gu, Seoul, more than 150 beginner drivers receive 1-on-1 lessons every month. One student said during their first lesson: "I'm so scared of highway entrance ramps that I've been stressed for days beforehand." After a 3-hour supercar coaching session, when he attempted the same highway entrance again, his expression was noticeably different.

The key to the change was positioning alignment. Once he understood how to approach the target lane on the main road from the entrance ramp and how to adjust steering and speed throughout the process, the highway entrance transformed from something frightening into an achievable task.

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Q1: I always feel tense when changing lanes. Is this normal?

A: It's normal. However, you need to identify the cause of that tension. In most cases, it's one of three things: (1) Your positioning isn't accurate, making the distance from the adjacent car uncertain; (2) Your sight line is fixed only on the other car, preventing overall situation awareness; (3) You're not decelerating on time, so your speed is inconsistent. Identify which applies to you and apply each solution one at a time. Within a few weeks, your tension will decrease significantly.

Q2: Does what I learned in circuit driving apply to everyday driving?

A: 100% yes. The basic principles of circuit driving — precise line, proper timing, smooth inputs — all increase safety on ordinary roads. The only difference is that circuits involve higher speeds, but the principles are the same. Therefore, if you learn these principles at low speeds, you'll naturally apply them at higher speeds.

Q3: What should I do if I feel like I might skid on wet roads?

A: First, don't turn the steering wheel sharply when the car is drifting. If you give a larger angle when the tires have already lost grip, the situation worsens. Second, gently align the steering wheel to the straight direction to reset the car's direction. Third, minimize acceleration and braking in that situation. If you make these three actions habitual, wet road driving becomes much safer.

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| Item | Beginner Driver Characteristics | Safe Driving Characteristics | How to Overcome |
|------|----------------------------------|------------------------------|-----------------|
| Steering Operation | Large and abrupt | Small and smooth | Consciously limit angle |
| Deceleration Timing | Sharp just before corner | Gradual from when corner appears | Fix timing on familiar corners |
| Sight Position | Only directly in front of car | Includes exit and next situation | Consciously look 5 seconds ahead |
| Vehicle Positioning | Unstable and angled | Aligned and precise | Practice lane tracking in parking lot |
| Error Response | Panic/overreaction | Detection/smooth recovery | Practice small errors in adverse conditions |

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Everyone feels anxious the moment they grip the steering wheel alone after getting their license. But that anxiety isn't because you can't drive — it's simply because you haven't yet internalized the correct techniques and positioning.

Overcoming the 5 misconceptions above is exactly where that begins. Small steering input, early deceleration, forward-looking sight, precise positioning, calm error management — keep just these five things in mind, and cornering won't be scary. You can confidently merge onto highways.

In fact, drivers who safely handle high-performance supercars learned these fundamentals at the beginning. The YCS Motorsports Group led by Chairman Yoon Chul-soo is currently providing customized coaching from beginner to experienced drivers at their location in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Until the day your driving becomes safe and relaxed, internalize these techniques one by one. In a few weeks, you'll see the road very differently. For deeper supercar driving coaching or high-performance vehicle driving consultation, contact 010-2397-5734 or jaiwshim@gmail.com.