Pulling out of a tight space

Watch it, then drive it

1. 1

   Watch how it is done

   Instructors film this one step by step. Watch a couple before your first try.

   More videos on YouTube↗
2. 2

   Drive it with the coach

   Guided mode puts the reference points on screen and stops you the moment you drift.

   Practise this in the simulator
3. 3

   Test yourself

   Test mode says nothing and marks you in the examiner's words. Three clean runs in a row and it is learnt.

Make room first

Look behind and reverse slowly until you have a metre or so more in front, stopping well before the car behind. In the simulator's car the front corner needs about one and a half metres to swing past on full lock.

Full lock, then creep

Mirrors and a look over your right shoulder, then full lock to the right, about one and a half turns, and creep. Watch the front left corner, not the road ahead: it is the part that hits. Once it is past, steer back to the left and straighten up in your lane.

How you practise it here

Watch drives it for you with the commentary running, so you see the whole thing once before you touch anything. Steering only takes the pedals and gears off you, the way an instructor does on the first lesson: a mark on the wheel shows when to turn and how far. Guided puts the reference points on screen and stops you the moment you drift. Test says nothing and marks you in the words the examiner uses. Three clean Test runs in a row counts as learned, and it comes back two days, a week and three weeks later so it is still there on the day.

Step by step

These are the words the simulator says to you, in order, the same commentary you would get from the passenger seat.

1. 1Boxed in: the car in front is too close to steer round. Reverse gear, look behind, and back up about a metre.
2. 2Stop well before the car behind. That metre is what lets the front swing out past the car in front.
3. 3Drive. Mirrors and a look over your right shoulder, then full lock to the right before you move: about one and a half turns.
4. 4Creep. Watch the front left corner: it swings out towards the car in front. If it looks close, stop and back up a little more.
5. 5The corner is past. Steer back to the left, about one turn, as you come out.
6. 6In your lane. Wheel back to the centre, cancel the signal and drive on.
7. 7Out of the space without touching either car. Stop here and tap Finished.

Common questions