@KaranY 's post is bang on. Drills are always what you should start with, and those drills should work on the absolute fundamentals first. Definitely the arguable best driver of 2019 right there folks, watch some of their matches (mainly at champs) if you want to learn how good driving should be, especially under defense.
4476 explicitly works on fundamentals for hours with any new driver or new robot before we ever seriously try scoring in a match scenario. Every robot drives differently, and drivers need extensive time to fine tune their muscle memory. COG changes, wheel types, differences driving forwards and backwards matters a lot, and you need to work on all these fundamentals before you dive deep into match simulations.
Also… “video game experience” is super overrated, and is pretty bad advice in my experience. Drive the robot, not play video games if you want to get better. The skills aren’t very translatable beyond “hand eye co-ordination” or familiar with “r2 means go” which takes barely any time to get accustomed to in the first place. Don’t waste your time if you want to be a better driver.
When I started driving at our tryouts in 2017, my years of playing Gran Turismo (a game similar to Forza) helped give me a higher base skill level. However after that, I had to quit playing that game during the frc season because it would hurt my turning and other muscle memory related combos when driving (because the cars in these game have completely different accelerations and turning radius than frc robots). I also personally experimented with playing Rocket League during downtimes at practices, however I was completely awful at it, and it presented the same issue regarded turning that other racing games had.
tldr;
Helps with driving at early stages, inhibits performance at later.
Chiming in on the video game experience–the only time I’ve noticed it making a difference is feeling comfortable manipulating a controller in possibly complex ways. This can be trained though, and is not a barrier of entry for anyone to be a driver.
In terms of games, I’ve found that Overcooked is useful in helping drive teams (coach, primary, and operator) develop communication styles and skills with each other. The game’s fast-paced, almost overwhelming design forces players to develop strategy on the fly and keep communication and actions clean for maximum efficiency. Most of the above posts have been in reference to games that require more reflex-oriented skills.
Video reviews at events are important, but it’s just as helpful to make time for these reviews outside of events. Going into our first event, our team reviewed matches our potential opponents to figure out why they won or lost matches at previous events. Doing these reviews for your own team helps you improve by learning from your own mistakes. Reviewing other teams helps you improve by learning how your teammates/opponents are likely going to play when you’re sharing the field.
For us at least video games is just a fun way to keep your hands and mind busy when the robot is not available. Of course, during the season we always have a robot available for the driver, whether it’s just a drivetrain with weights on it at the start to help him get a feel for the field or a full on practice bot.
tldr;
Gaming is a nice habit during the off season to keep your mind sharp when you’re not practicing with an actual robot, shouldn’t be thought of as a replacement for practice
+1 on physical exercise
Proper exercise is good for you anyways, staying healthy is important!
But related to driving, I know that if I don’t eat well I can’t really focus and perform well on field.
Even better if it’s a competitive sport, helps build character, as FRC is pretty much a competitive sport in and of itself.
One other thing is to film practice runs and review the footage at the end of the day. Really helps when trying to see what works best for you and analyze your flaws.
I had a fun time playing overcooked with 2791’s former drive coach a few weeks ago. It reminded us both a lot of strategizing for FRC matches: you need to coordinate sharing space and resources to accomplish different tasks over a finite period of time to maximize a score.
I think Overcooked would be better for training a drive coach (and working with a drive coach). Have one person coach two (driver+operator?) or three people work through the levels.
That’s exactly how we’ve played it. Drive coach “shotcalls” what needs to happen based off of the orders as they come in, and the people at the controls micromanage the individual orders in order to maximize their efficiency. All around, everyone learns how to communicate in a way that parallels the communication on the field.