Backing into a marked bay at 90 degrees: assessed in several states, and used every single week for the rest of your driving life at every shopping centre car park. Practise it here in a right-hand-drive car with coaching on where to start the turn and what your mirrors should be showing.
Because pulling out forwards is the safe half of the job.
The scene mirrors for Australian roads, so the bay corner appears in the mirror you will actually be watching.
The bay corner sinks down the mirror and drops out of frame partway through the turn — a real mirror does exactly the same. The coaching tells you what to switch to instead of pretending otherwise.
Bay lines light up the moment you touch them, so you can see whether you would have finished inside them.
Overhead to understand the arc, driving view to learn it from the seat, chase view to watch the attempt back.
Three steps from cold start to parked.
Drive down the aisle holding a steady distance from the bay line, and stop where the coaching marks it.
Stop, select reverse, go to full lock, and back round at a crawl while the prompts tell you what to watch.
Straighten as the car comes parallel with the bay lines, then reverse in until all four wheels are inside.
Almost every bad bay park is a bad approach, not bad steering.
Where you stop in the aisle decides everything after it. Too close to the bays and you cannot get round without clipping a line; too far out and you finish short. The simulator marks the stopping point while you are learning, then takes the marker away once you can find it yourself.
It feels harder, and it is — you are doing the difficult part while the aisle is empty and you can see it. The alternative is doing the difficult part later, reversing blind out of a bay between two four-wheel drives into moving traffic and pedestrians. Car parks are where a surprising share of low-speed collisions happen, and almost all of them happen to cars backing out.
It is not your mirror. Once the car has swung round far enough, the bay corner ends up on the ground beside your rear wheel, below what the mirror can see. Push the mirror down before you start if you want to hold it longer, and from that point judge by the bay line running alongside you instead.
The car comes parallel a moment before it looks like it has. Take the lock off as it approaches parallel — if you wait until it obviously looks straight, you have gone past and you will finish at an angle.
It depends on your state. Several assess reversing into a bay or a straight reverse alongside the reverse parallel park; others do not. Check your own state’s assessment criteria — either way it is a skill you will use constantly once you have your licence.
Reverse in wherever you can. You do the hard part while the aisle is clear and visible, instead of reversing blind into moving traffic and pedestrians when you leave.
Whichever gives you the better view over your shoulder and the better mirror on the bay you are aiming for. You can practise the mirrored version by switching which side of the road you drive on in the start menu.
Yes — this page defaults to left-hand traffic and a right-hand-drive car, and every coaching prompt swaps sides to match.