It's true that the clamping force of the lug nuts is WAY more than necessary to keep the wheel in place. Some calculations from an engineer I could dig up if I *really* wanted to, done to approximate the picture with the NSX, being 5 lugs @ 75ft-lbs with a steel hub and aluminum wheel (different metals have different coefficients of friction), approximated that it'd take something like 30,000lbs of force to break the friction between the wheel and the hub. That basically means the wheel and the suspension will get damaged before the wheel moves against the hub.

Also note that when the car is cornering, the forces you're looking at most are not vertical loads, but lateral loads. The lateral loads are applied longitudinally along the axis of the lugs.

What you *do* need to be careful of, though, is that if you don't tighten the lugs evenly a little bit at a time (for example, you reef down on one lug nut before tightening the others), the wheel will not be properly centered.

Fastener torque/preload values: I pulled them from a handy reference
slide-rule chart. Holo-Krome Company, Lancaster PA, "Socket Screw
Selector". I looked up a 7/16"-14 fastener (WAG- seemed about the same size
as most studs I've dealt with) and then saw that if torqued to the
recommended torque (1,190in-lbs = 100ft-lbs), each would give a preload of
11,830lbs. Scale that preload torque down to 75ft-lbs (common automotive
torque value for lug nuts), and each gives a preload of 8,873lbs. Multiply
by 5 (NSX), and you get 44,360lbs preload. Multiply the preload times the
coefficient of friction to get the total static friction "holding" force.