Never balanced a pod in my life - never had a car accelerate in anything but a straight line. Never, ever seen any top 12th driver ever bother to balance a pod, and never seen that be a cause of a car accelerating to one side or another.
You'll get beaten by more unbalanced pods than balanced pods in any given race, so if it was as essential as making sure you have equal steering throw to both locks, or ensuring the car was not tweaked, then everyone would be doing it. And they aren't...
And I now manage to beat Mr. Christopher on a regular basis with my unbalanced pod! Yeah, cheeky... but true!!
Balancing pods is time in my life I will never get back...
