Torque distribution control is a key technique for four-wheel independent-drive electric vehicles because it significantly affects vehicle stability and handling performance, especially under extreme driving conditions. This paper, which focuses on the global yaw moment generated by both the longitudinal and the lateral tire forces, proposes a new distribution control to allocate driving torques to four-wheel motors. The proposed objective function not only minimizes the longitudinal tire usage, but also make increased use of each tire to generate yaw moment and achieve a quicker yaw response. By analysis and a comparison with prior torque distribution control, the proposed control approach is shown to have better control performance in hardware-in-the-loop simulations.