A sports car can be referred to as an automobile specifically intended for performance driving. Almost all sports cars are rear-wheel drive, possess two seats, two doors, and are intended for accurate handling, acceleration, and aesthetics. A sports car mainly aims at high-class road handling, braking, maneuverability, low weight, and high power, and not passenger space, comfort, and fuel saving.

Sports cars come under either luxurious or spartan, but the compelling aspect is the driving mechanical performance. Drivers consider brand name and the related racing reputation and history as important pointers of sporting versatility, but some brands, even though they do not indulge in racing or constructs racing cars, is also widely respected.

A car may be classified as a sporting automobile even if it is not a sports car. Performance alterations of common, production cars, such as sport compacts, sports sedans, muscle cars, hot hatches and other cars similar to these generally are not sports cars, still share characteristics owned by sports cars. Sometimes, performance cars of all compositions are classified as Sports cars, or, often, as performance cars.

A sports car does not need a big, powerful engine, even though a lot of them do have them. Some traditional sports cars do not possess powerful engines, but were popular for excellent handling because of its light weight, a well-engineered, balanced chassis, and modern suspension. On complex and compressed roads, automobile like them achieve more efficiency than a heavier, more powerful luxury car with less flexibility.

As a result of North American safety regulations, a lot of sports cars are not in the market for sale or use in the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle Eastern market (e.g. UAE), an adjustable attitude towards small-volume specialist manufacturers has helped companies to flourish. The drive train and engine layout decide the handling features of an automobile, and is the core to the design of a sports car.

For sports cars of any generation the front-engine, rear-wheel drive train layout (FR layout) is common. This configuration has lasted the test of time longer in sports cars compared to mainstream automobiles. For achieving of better handling and weight distribution, other formats have been developed. The RMR layout is a commonly feature seen only in sports cars - the motor is centre-mounted in the chassis (nearer to and behind the driver), and supports only the rear wheels. High-performance sports car and supercar manufacturers always show a liking to this layout. A lot of modern cars, specifically grand tourers, also employ a FMR layout, with the motor placed between the front axle and the firewall.

Only a few manufacturers still employ the rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout (RR layout). The motor has well spread out weight across the wheels, and this delivers exceptional traction, but is not advisable, as the engine's weight is not between the two axles; the vehicle is badly balanced, thus, many early vehicles handled errantly. However with the continuous modifications to the design, added with the engineering developments and support of electronic driving i.e. computerized traction-stability control, the manufacturers have been able to fight against inherent weaknesses in the design. Sports cars continue to be an irresistible attraction for car fanatics all over the world.