[slijin]

Just to continue chiming in, I agree that driving practice definitely helps improve driving skill. For Logomotion, we decided that our traditional 6WD tank wouldn't have enough maneuverability for the game, and switched to mecanums; it took at least a few hours for our drivers to get a very good handle on the system. Scoring practice was also very important.

One of the most important - and useful - things about build season driver practice is that your drivers get to know the robot and the field. Mechanisms intended to do a certain thing may need to be operated in a certain manner to get them to work, especially with the field; god knows how long it took us to figure out how to hang tubes effectively, despite our arm and roller's efficiency.

We don't have a dedicated practice space, but we do have access to a couple of supply closets where we store carpets, and we tend to leave field pieces in the back of our lab, and bring them out during meetings.