A few simple guidelines for when to turn and what to use for reference points when parking may be all you need to perfect your parking abilities. This infographic illustrates exactly how to parallel park and pull in quickly (backwards or forwards) into a parking lot spot.

Handbrake-sliding a classic Mini into a parking spot just five inches longer than the car itself is a little absurd, but it is impressive.

That parking spot is just big enough for a Fiat Citroen VTS, and to actually make it work is that much more challenging in front of a helpful group like this.

German Ronny "C-Rock" Wechselberger made parallel parking history earlier this year when he flipped his Volkswagen Polo into a spot approximately 26 centimeters (10.24 inches) longer than his car without crashing. It beat the old record by just one centimeter.

If you think parallel parking is bad now, imagine it in the 1950s. With archaic power steering (if any) and massive cars trying to parallel park must have been even more irritating. With this in mind one clever inventor dreamed up the "Park-kar" (?), a trunk mounted, drive shaft driven fifth wheel to maneuver…

This mule doesn't mess around with radar proximity sensors or advanced trigonometric algorithms. He just parks with his heart and makes anyone who uses assisted parking feel like an ass.

Stanford University's Computer Science Department's autonomous VW Passat Wagon has learned a fun new trick: using vehicle and real-world models to accurately J-turn its way into a parallel parking space. At least our future masters have skills.

Striking a blow for feminist equality, this little girl demonstrates the kind of parallel parking skill more often associated with gristly movie stunt drivers. Don't try this at home, unless you're also impossibly cute.

1. Pull up just alongside the car in front, leaving 2 feet of space, until your rear bumpers are even.

The formula for the perfect parallel parking job was recently worked out by mathematician Simon Blackburn. It is: Minimum space needed=length of car + √[(r²-I²)+(I+k)²-(√(r²-I²)-w)²]-I-k Easy, right? Full solution below.