All wheel drive was first introduced in rally cars to help improve traction on loose surfaces and slippery roads. While the disadvantage is the increase in weight of up to 100 kg which is a major turn off by most manufactures. Partly due to that weight slows a car down but most importantly because a heavy car usually handles like an overweight elephant. However, some manufactures have fixed this problem, noticeably Audi with the Quattro AWD in the early 1980's and of course Nissan with the Skyline GT-R but using very different technology to do so.

The Nissan skyline has one of the most advanced AWD systems ever in a production car. Under normal driving conditions the Skyline GT-R R33 and R34 drives as rear wheel drive. It is only when the onboard computer detects that extra front wheel traction is needed then all four wheels are driven. The onboard computer can also determine the ratio of rear to front wheel drive that is needed at any particular moment.

All of this extra technology of Nissans AWD system cancels out completely the handling problems of other AWD cars, mainly the ability to have oversteering on tap. This makes the car more desirable to true sport drivers.