Parking the trailer is definitely the most complex thing to do in Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ETS2). In this tutorial I have compiled a step-by-step guide on how to do exactly just that. But as a foreword I recommend you to use a controller rather than a keyboard for parking your trailer.
STEP 1 : Understanding the mechanism
You can choose to skip this section and directly jump to step 2 below it won’t be much of a problem. Unless you are an absolute truck nerd.
Anyway so when you are reversing a truck with a trailer attached to it, what you are essentially doing is : You are pushing a long stick from one end. But unlike a stick, a truck with a trailer has a pivot in between. Which is exactly what makes it more complicated. Because it facilitates the truck and the trailer to be at angles with each other.
So let’s see what happens in three of the most common scenarios while reversing a truck.
In the screenshots above, the blue lines show the position of the non-turning wheels. The green lines are showing the position of the turning wheels and the red dot is the truck-and-trailer attachment point (the pivot). The purple arrows show the direction the entire setup will move to.
Scenario 1 : Steering straight while reversing (first screenshot)
In this case since the steering is straight, the entire cab will move straight back which also forces the pivot and the front part of the trailer straight back. But due to the angle between the cab and the trailer, the far end of the trailer will move in the opposite direction to the front (as can be seen in the screenshot). So if you continue to reverse, the angle will get more extreme. Eventually causing the cab to hit the side of trailer (aka a jack-knife position).
Scenario 2 : Steering right while reversing (second screenshot)
If you are steering to the right (look at the position of the front wheels marked in green) the front of the cab will move to the left making the rear of the cab. While the pivot point will swing to the right. Simultaneously forcing the rear of the trailer to swing to the left. Effectively making the angle between the cab and the trailer extreme even more quickly than it was in the previous scenario.
Scenario 3 : Steering left while reversing (third screenshot)
Here, the front of the cab will move out to the right making the rear of the cab. The pivot point swing to the left. This causes the rear of the trailer to swing to the right. The effect of which is that the angle between the cab and trailer will get smaller and eventually straighten out. Something which you will find very useful while parking.
STEP 2 : Parking the trailer
I recommend you to look back through the driver side window. Press the ‘5’ key to quickly switch the camera to this view (press ‘1’ to look forward again).
STEP 2.1 : First we want to get the truck and trailer past the parking area. Preferably not at an extreme angle. Obviously, if you can line it up so that it is straight back that would be ideal. But it will rarely happen. The screenshot below is an example of a good placement.
STEP 2.2 : Now start reversing slowly (1 to 2 km/h) while steering. So that the trailer starts turning into the parking area and continue adjusting your angle at the same time. This way the trailer will soon come into a position where it will aligned almost at a straight line with the parking area.
STEP 2.3 : Now start swinging the truck slowly again to reduce the angle even further. Allowing the trailer to get back straight in and if needed, don’t hesitate to bring the cab slightly to the opposite direction. This will help to adjust the trailer. Once the trailer is properly parked the demarcated area for parking will turn green as shown in the screenshot below.
STEP 2.4 : Parking from the other direction
Trying to park when the parking area is on the opposite side of the driver is very much the same procedure. But as you will be mostly blind on one side, this means that you will essentially be parking using the passenger side mirror.
Again, the first step here will be to get a good angle between the trailer and the parking area.
Now similar to the previous case, we again reverse slowly (1-2 kmph) while steering the trailer into the parking area. Though admittedly it is a little bit harder since you will have to only rely on the mirror. Still continue to reverse and slowly continue to snake your way into the parking area.
You might actually hit the parking area sometime or the other. In that cases stop reversing and move the truck forward while straightening out. Now it should be easy. Just reverse into the area and done!
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