Why is it harder to park next to car on the outside of my turning arc than one on the inside of my turning arc?
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Perspective. Your position in the car and ability to see the car you are parking next to with a less obstructed view, through your drivers side window, makes it easier to see how far away you are and position yourself.
Because when you are parking next to a car on the OUTSIDE of your arc the “point of danger” is your front end and you need to take into account that the front of your car is changing position during that maneuver. Swinging wide and then coming back in. When an obstruction is on the INSIDE of your arc, the area of concern is the back end of your car which doesn’t draw the same wide arc, it’s just pivoting around a point (your rear wheel). It’s much easier to figure out where that point is, and where it might be at any given time, than the constantly moving front end of the car.
Because your site lines for an outside car, are away from the border between your car and the other car.
A car on the inside, you can look directly down the border and this judge much better your margins.
Assuming you’re pulling into a parking spot instead of backing into it, you’re essentially ‘pulling’ your rear wheels into position. It takes more ‘pulling’ to get them close to the car on the outside of your turning arc than to get them close to the car on the inside of your turning arc. Since you’re pulling and not pushing, the rear tires never go as far as your front tires.
This is why some people prefer backing into a parking spot, because then you’re ‘pushing’ your rear wheels into position, in which case, they go further than your front wheels.
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