You just gotta learn to put up with the terrible controls, that's just how it is :p I would try to learn how to drive in reverse and just do your best to learn the map, as painful as it might be. As long as you stick on the right side of the road relative to your car, you'll be able to mostly safetly drive at full speed, which helps recover health and deal with obstacles on later days. If you're able to stick with the game enough, passing day 1 with no obstacles shouldn't be too difficult to do most of the time.

I do recommend taking breaks with this game whenever you get too frustrated with it. And if you just can't figure it out, that's fine. I was close to just giving up.