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Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFwfexZstO4
The difficulty of driving backwards has almost nothing to do with the direction you’re facing and everything to do with the fact that you steer using the front wheels.
When driving forwards, a car goes in the direction the front wheels are pointed. And when driving backwards, the car goes where the back wheels are pointed.
Simple!
But the difference is that going forwards, the direction of travel is determined by the same wheels you steer with, so you just point them where you want to go, and that’s where you go, the back wheels follow automatically.
However, when driving backwards, the direction of travel is determined by the back wheels but you steer with the front wheels.
So rather than just pointing the front wheels where you want to go, you have to point them in the direction that will get the BACK wheels to point in the direction you want to go – it’s an additional level of separation before the car does what you want.
And in fact, if you don’t make any corrections, then over time the back wheels point farther and farther away from the direction you want to go: instead of following the front wheels, they run away!
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Next video: driving backwards with a trailer - adding yet another level of separation...
You've some how explained this correctly and made me worse at reversing because now im gonna think about this while driving. Thanks.
Forklift certified ✅
Damn that car has a crazy turning radius
Wrong. Your car pivots along the back wheels and you adjust the direction with your front wheels. It’s only hard because you’re not used to it. If you drive something that pivots along the front wheels like a forklift, then you’d get used to it.
This video conveniently ignores a cool little contraption called a "steering wheel" to make things sound more complicated than they are. Your car will always go the direction it's turned, forward or back.
Another Important factor is the effect the caster angle of the front wheels has when reversing
Don't need to think about the wheels. Just turn the steering wheel the direction you want to go, whether it's forward or reverse
This is also why piloting a boat with an outboard motor can be so confusing for those who aren't familiar with them
This is like if your college prof decided to sub in for 5th grade all of a sudden
There is no disconnection. Regardless of whether you are in a forward gear or reverse, turning the steering wheel does the same thing. If want the car to move to your left, you turn the wheel to the left. If want the car to move to your right, you turn the wheel to the right. People make things so complicated for no reason.
this is why every car needs tank controls
I feel like the person who wrote the script for this video has never actually driven backwards. When you drive backwards, you turn the wheel to the left to go left and to the right to go right exactly how you do when you're going forward.
I think the biggest problem is not mentioned here. The front steering system is engineered to straighten itself while going forward but this engineering feature makes it unstable while going in reverse.
It also doesn't help that of all the time you have spent driving, about 1% of that time is spent in reverse. So you have much less experience doing it.
Anyone who works in fleet service is well acquainted with driving backwards- while going forward.
I did NOT need to know this I was reversing fine until yesterday!!
practically that all does not matter, the wheels would drift had they not been connected to the car but they are so as long as the driver holds the steering wheel the car keeps driving straight even if its going backwards.....
Except nobody actually looks at the wheels when driving backwards and the only real difference is you get a much tighter turning circle and at slow speeds the 'back' of the car can essentially move sideways which makes going backwards much more flexible for complex turns. But if you put the steering on the back wheels of a car most people would have no real difficulty driving it forwards.
Is it hard to drive backwards? The only complexity is adding a trailer to it…