Algodoo

I think the steering is backwards when driving in reverse. When I press the right arrow key, the car steers as if the wheels are turning to the left. And the opposite is true for the left arrow key.

Haha good steering physics but theres no limit to wheel angle so you can turn them 180 degrees

Xray,

I think you are wrong.

homieeee,

Thanks.

s_noonan - I think what I am experiencing is caused by the wheels having poor traction with the "road". I confirmed that by moving the car body to the back so that I could view the behavior of the wheels. They appear to be slipping as if driving on ice, when I try to steer while moving in reverse. My real-world truck and RV trailer do not behave in that manner.

Xray,

Sorry I said you were wrong. I now think you are right and that there is something going on. The left tires are the only ones to track, since I removed the tracking on the right tires in order to avoid overconstraint. It looks like I either have to put the tracking tires in the center and put fake tires on the outside or else design the font suspension so the tires rotate about a common center.

No problem!

It's much better now, but it's still very difficult to steer the trailer in reverse. Part of the reason is because the distance from the hitch ball (pivot point) to the trailer axle is relatively short. That makes turning in reverse very sensitive to small changes in the steering arc of the tow vehicle. You can reduce the steering sensitivity by increasing the tongue length between the hitch ball and the trailer axle. I tried that myself and it made steering in reverse much easier. Just a suggestion.

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree with everything you say, but I'm not changing it, because its proportions are similar to my car and trailer. I made this scene after driving to the dump with a small trailer in tow. I always have a difficult time backing up and made the scene to practice.

Here's a little trick that I learned a long time ago which really helps backing a trailer. Rather than steer the tow vehicle by holding the top of the steering wheel as you normally would when towing forward, grab the steering wheel at the bottom (6 O'clock position) and "push" the bottom of the steering wheel in the direction that you want the trailer to go. For example, if you want the back of the trailer to turn to the right, just push the bottom of the steering wheel to the right! It may take a little getting used to, but after steering like that a few times, it becomes perfectly natural. Now I can back a trailer like a pro!

Thanks. I'll keep it in mind next time I have the trailer hooked up.