Bus Parking Simulator 3D

Summary

Behind the fun cartoon visuals and what you’ll probably suspect to be the easiest game ever made sits a surprisingly tricky bus parking challenge that’ll soon have you getting far more familiar with the restart button than you’d like.

You’ll be threading a selection of buses through cone-lined city streets filled with parked traffic, squeezing into tight parking bays, and fighting a countdown timer that always feels like it’s being a little too harsh (along with the option to make it even harder if you disagree!).

As soon as you get started, you have to contend with the rusty old starter bus pulling to the left on its own (clearly due to clapped-out suspension), so you can’t even drive in a straight line without correcting yourself.

There are four more buses to unlock as you earn cash, ranging from rusty Soviet-era relics to a sleek modern coach that’s capable of doing some sideways action on the corners.

While it might look like a game designed for five-year-olds at first glance, even on easy mode, it’ll test your patience and your ability to not rage-quit when a traffic cone clips your bumper for the third time in a row!

Bus Parking Simulator 3D features

• Release date – July 10, 2023
• Difficulty – Beginner/intermediate
• Number of vehicles – 5
• Vehicle customization/upgrades – No
• Multiplayer – No
• Mobile – No (loads on Android, but lacks on-screen controls)
• Developer – Xenolia

Physics

The handling is mostly predictable and straightforward, which is just as well, given you’ll be squeezing your way through millimeter gaps in a huge vehicle. The starter bus has a fun quirk where it drifts to the left under acceleration (as if the alignment is totally shot), adding a surprise layer of difficulty to the opening levels (no, it’s not your imagination!)

Increasingly expensive buses that you’ll soon get to unlock are noticeably quicker, and once you build up speed on corners, the rear end actually kicks out with visible tire smoke. Obviously, it’s far from a fully-fledged drifting game, but kicking the back end out is great fun, and controlling it is super risky in tight spaces (ask me how I know).

Graphics

Colorful, blocky cartoon visuals give the game a lighthearted feel and help it run smoothly on just about any device. Each level takes place in a vibrant city environment packed with shops, gas stations, police cars, and other obstacles.

The low-poly, simple styling reminds us of Polytrack, where the deceptively casual visuals hide a game that’s far harder than it looks. Polytrack channels that same approach into precision racing with over 100 community-built tracks and global leaderboards, and you won’t believe how perfect you’ll need your laps to be to earn a spot on them.

Bus Parking Simulator 3D controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook

• W/Up arrow – Accelerate
• S/Down arrow – Brake/reverse
• A/Left arrow – Turn left
• D/Right arrow – Turn right
• Space – Handbrake/e-brake
• V – Change camera (yep, we’re sure that’s not a typo!)
• Tab – Pause

The V key for camera changes is an odd choice. It’s the only browser game I can remember that uses V instead of C, and since they’re right next to each other, you’ll probably find yourself pressing the wrong one.

Mobile/tablet (iOS/Android)

Some sites claim Bus Parking Simulator 3D works on mobile. However, the game loaded during our testing, but it doesn’t provide on-screen controls, making it unplayable. Our mobile games collection has loads of alternatives for you to check out that work perfectly on portable devices, though.

How to play Bus Parking Simulator 3D

Initial setup

When you first open the game, you’ll have a language selection screen pop up. Press ‘Select’ (it’s hiding among the flags), and you’re taken to the garage where the starter bus sits spinning on a turntable.

Use the left and right arrows to browse through all five buses, with prices and a ‘Watch’ button (to unlock via ad) displayed at the bottom if you want to get behind the wheel of one immediately, rather than saving.

Your current bank balance is shown in the top left, the ‘Settings’ cog (just audio toggles) sits in the top right, and the difficulty toggle in the bottom left lets you switch between ‘Easy’, ‘Medium’, and ‘Hard’. We recommend starting on ‘Easy’ for now, and you’ll soon see why. Click ‘Race’ when you’re ready to dive in.

Getting started

On the first level, you just need to drive forward into the highlighted parking bay. Simple enough, right? You’d think so. However, the starter bus immediately veers left under throttle (thanks to its dodgy suspension), so you’ll need to correct the steering to reach the parking bay successfully.

Your countdown timer sits at the top of the screen alongside the level number, with your speed (in KPH) in the bottom right. There’s also a ‘LightMode’ button that toggles between the default bright environment and a dimmer sunset-style lighting (purely cosmetic, but a nice touch).

Each level requires you to navigate your bus into the blue dashed parking spot before the timer runs out.

Once you’re in the bay and completely stationary, it illuminates green, and a 3-second validation countdown appears. Stay still until it hits zero, and you’ll complete the level. If you’re slightly off, the game tells you to ‘correct the direction’, so you’ll need to make adjustments while that timer keeps ticking, which gets a bit nerve-racking.

Any slight collision (even the slightest graze of a cone) means instant game over. Thankfully, the restarts are practically instant, so you’ll be back into the action before you can blink.

If you’re getting frustrated with this, and fancy something more chilled, Slow Roads trades parking bays for relaxing bus driving through stunning scenery in the British countryside. You pick your vehicle, and then you’re free to cruise endlessly through the mountains and snowfields with no timer, no scoring, and no damage.

Game modes

There’s only one mode – level-based parking with three difficulty settings and a huge selection of levels (we got to 14, and it was still going.)

Easy gives you the most generous timer, but it’s still far from a cakewalk. Medium and Hard shorten the timer further, demanding near-perfect runs to progress.

Each level features cones, parked vehicles, buildings, and tight gaps. Some require three-point turns (or more), while others have you swinging the bus between police cars and ambulances.

The most challenging aspect initially is getting used to the bus’s long wheelbase in spaces that barely fit it, which is different from most driving games, where speed or sideways action is the main focus.

If you’re after a bus game with more variety, City Bus Rush takes you out on the open road, where you’ll pick up and drop off passengers while drifting your bus around the city streets.

Or, for a completely different type of bus challenge, Bus Parking Out swaps driving for a color-matching puzzle where you’ll shuffle vehicles through a gridlocked parking lot and make sure all the passengers reach their destinations.

Bus list

There are five buses to unlock:

• Free starter – A Soviet-era LAZ-695 bus with a red and white two-tone livery and “Alt’s Childhood” on the destination board (nod to the dev, perhaps?). It’s rusty, slow, and pulls to the left, but otherwise perfect for the early levels.

• $250 – A worn blue and white city transit bus. It’s a step up from the starter, but still looks like it’s seen better decades!

• $400 – A white bus with orange and red livery. It’s cleaner, quicker, and a noticeable improvement over the cheaper options.

• $600 – The sleek modern coach (or “Busmobile,” as I ended up calling it, as it’s Batmobile-like from the upper views). It features dark paint, aggressive styling, a narrower, longer body, digital side-view cameras, and is capable of kicking out the rear end with tire smoke. It’s easier to fit into bays than the wider options (make sure you don’t go too far forward), but the extra length demands more planning around tight corners.

• $800 – A classic touring coach with curtains in the windows and a more luxurious feel. This is the priciest option despite being older than the modern offering, and it’s also tail-happy if you push it hard enough through corners.

Earning cash is steady enough on the Easy difficulty, and you can also watch ads to unlock any bus instantly from the garage.

Tuning, upgrades & customization

While we’d love to tell you there are 2JZ-GTE engine swaps and coilovers, we’d be lying. There’s no tuning or customization here – you just select your bus and head to the streets.

If that’s a dealbreaker, Drift Hunters MAX is the ultimate go-to for anyone wanting to tinker, with a huge car selection, 13 tracks (each with plenty of configs in Drift Attack mode, which features judged runs with clipping points), and a tuning system covering in-depth suspension geometry tweaks and engine upgrades.

Advanced tips & tricks

Get used to using the handbrake early-on

Pressing the handbrake is perfect for locking the wheels instantly once you’re in the bay. The typical footbrake is slower and shifts into reverse once you stop, which can throw you out of position, becoming super frustrating when you’re rushing against the clock.

Use all three camera views to your advantage

The default follow cam works for general driving, the cockpit gives you side-mirror and front-end spatial awareness, and the bird’s eye view is perfect for tight corners. Keep a finger on V and toggle between them as needed. Double-tapping from the follow cam drops you straight into the bird’s eye view, which can be a lifesaver.

Always press ‘Next Level’ before going back to the menu

Be warned – if you press ‘Menu’ from the mission complete screen (even if you successfully finished), your progress won’t save. Always press ‘Next Level’ first, then use the settings cogwheel to return to the main menu from there.

Give the drifting action a go when you’ve got plenty of room

The upgraded buses have more power, making them capable of kicking the rear out with visible tire smoke on fast corners, and can actually drift. It’s ridiculously risky on most of the levels, but if you’ve got a bit of space on an approach, sliding the bus around is way more fun than it has any right to be in a parking game!

Bus Parking Simulator 3D FAQ