The 5 Best Car Parking Simulators to Improve Your Real-Life Skills

Looking to get better at parking? These top-rated car simulator games help you practice parallel parking, tight maneuvers, and real-world driving skills.

Repeated practice is necessary to hone driving skills. But if you can’t drive around the block due to lack of resources, bad practicing environment or anxiety, play any of the five car parking simulation games on our list to help improve your real-life parking skills. You may think these are just games, but car driving simulation games have already helped many players learn and improve their real-life driving skills.

Driving simulators are also used as part of exposure therapy to treat patients suffering from driving anxiety due to phobia or PTSD, and studies have shown positive results in helping patients overcome their trauma. In fact, studies have explored the use of virtual reality simulation games in exposure therapy to treat women with driving phobia¹ and subjects with driving PTSD following a motor vehicle accident², respectively.

Can Parking Simulators Help You Park Better?

In theory, using parking simulators should be able to help you improve your parking skills. This is because it will enable you to familiarize yourself with the necessary gear shifting and steering adjustments to properly position your vehicle when parking.

Parking simulators provide a variety of real-life circumstances, such as when parking in crowded or narrow places, so players will ideally be able to determine the best course of action before they face the same situation on the streets. With repeated game play through various scenarios, you can commit the correct actions to muscle memory, which will minimize stress and frustration when you do the real thing.

But that kind of improvement will not be realized unless you’re diligent enough to practice and learn from any and all mistakes you may make during your play-throughs.

Why Parking Simulators Are Better Than Casual Parking Games

When it comes to honing your parking skills, playing a parking simulator has more advantages compared to casual games. Let’s differentiate the two so you can better understand why parking simulators are better.

Parking Simulators Vs Casual Parking Games

The difference between these two types of games lies in their purpose and application.

Parking simulators are designed to provide an immersive experience that is close to real-life situations to players and require high accuracy to complete objectives. This means that players may find it more difficult to pass simulation game missions or tests because it requires precision and accuracy, as well as knowledge of real-world rules. Likewise, simulation games tend to focus on realistic graphics, physics and handling, and require more detailed controls. This, in turn, requires players to be more precise with handling controls, and may require special controllers such as a driving rig (i.e., steering wheels, pedals, and shifting gears) for driving games. However, these rigs can be pricey, as even brand-new entry level ones cost upwards of $200.

Casual parking games, on the other hand, are designed for enjoyment and quick gameplay, and are marketed as “fun parking games”. As such, casual games generally don’t offer an immersive experience and tend to forego realistic physics and accuracy. Because of its usually basic gameplay, casual games rarely need special controllers, and players can simply use the default controller for consoles and mouse and keyboard (i.e., directional buttons or WASD) to control the vehicle. Likewise, casual games don’t require precision as long as the objective is met. That is, even if the vehicle is “parked” haphazardly, the player can pass the level as long as it is inside the designated parking space, which are often larger or more spacious than is available in real life.

Are Parking Simulation Games Better Than Casual Parking Games?

To increase driving proficiency before actually going out on the road, playing parking simulation games is definitely better. This is because simulation games allow players to practice driving and parking maneuvers, as well as help manage anxiety behind the wheel and minimize the probability of stress-induced accidents in environments such as crowded parking lots.

Casual parking games are a decent way to learn some points, such as understanding various road and parking scenarios, obstacle avoidance, improving hand-eye coordination, and increasing spatial awareness. But when it comes to actual parking skills, improvement may be limited by the non-immersive environment, inaccurate physics, and available controllers.

Top 5 Driving or Parking Simulators to Improve Real-Life Skills

Among the simulation games available on the market, the five (5) titles below have the most positive responses from players who found them helpful for driving and parking practice.

1. City Car Driving (PC)
   City Car Driving is a simulator game designed to raise driving skills. The game provides road rules training and basic driving education in preparation for the simulated driving test. Players may also drive around the city to apply and practice the driving techniques and parking maneuvers they learned in various scenarios.

2. BeamNG.Drive (PC)
   BeamNG.Drive prides itself for having the most realistic physics among the existing car-related simulation games, especially in terms of crash physics. It’s highly rated by players, and many have even used the game to improve their driving skills on different terrains or teach others some driving basics before going on the road.

3. Car Driving School Simulator (Android | iOS)
   As its titles suggests, Car Driving School Simulator is literally a driving school in game format.
   Here, players learn basic driving and parking maneuvers, proper vehicle operation, defensive driving techniques, and road rules, among others.

4. Car Parking Simulator VR (PC)
   Car Parking Simulator uses a VR headset and controllers and is an exclusively VR game, which means players don’t need a separate rig. This game focuses on teaching players parking maneuvers through various scenarios and environments.

5. Assetto Corsa (PC/PS4/Xbox One/GeForce Now)
   Assetto Corsa is a racing game, but there are available racecourses where players can practice driving their chosen vehicle. Likewise, players can mod the game to add their preferred vehicle, tracks or street, or even add in other obstacles like traffic.

   Bonus:
   Grand Theft Auto V (PC/PS5/Xbox X|S)
   GTA V wasn’t developed to practice driving and parking, for sure, but don’t dismiss it just yet. While GTA V is primarily an action-adventure game with fast-paced car chases, many players also enjoy casually driving along the streets of Los Santos. Some have also used mods to further enhance the vehicle functions, such as making the turn signals work, while also applying real-world road rules. This means that casual play can provide some simulated driving and parking practice time to hone your skills.

How to Apply Your Simulated Parking Skills in Real Life

Most of the driving and parking simulation games listed in the previous section allows players to practice what they learned with ease in various environments and scenarios. Once you’ve had sufficient practice in the simulator – enough to be calm behind the wheel of a real car – you can transition to practicing the skills you learned in your driveway, empty lots, or less populated areas.

When you encounter any troubles when driving a real car, take note of it and consider practicing it again on a simulator until you can do the maneuver with ease before trying again on a real vehicle.

If you don’t have access to different types of parking spaces for practice, consider booking a parking spot with Spacer! Spacer offers a variety of parking spaces all over the U.S. – from on-street parking to private driveways and multi-level parking garages. All you need to do is search your area, choose from the resulting listing, and book the perfect parking spot.

Final Thoughts: Are Parking Simulators Worth It?

Parking simulators are definitely worth the investment if you’re willing to shell out $200 upwards for a brand-new steering wheel rig, buy a used but working rig, or you already have one at home. Simulators will enable you to learn and practice driving and parking maneuvers in realistic parking scenarios and environments before taking the car out. Likewise, those who suffer from driving anxiety may also benefit from the immersive gameplay and simulated environment to help them relax and avoid potential stress-induced accidents.