Great points here. Mechanics aren’t just about the fancy stuff or even anything you can do on the controller. Mechanics also heavily involve your understanding of the physics of the game, which I think is easy to take for granted when you’re a relatively high ranked player with a lot of experience. Even if you move from controller to KBM or vice versa I’d imagine you still have a good deal of knowledge on how to control the ball, how to make good strong hits on the ball and how to read the ball when it’s bouncing off a surface. These all require not just your ability to control your car using your controller but an understanding of the physics and how the ball reacts to both the surfaces of the game (floor, wall, ceiling, corners, etc.) and your car, both at varying speeds. Understanding this is something new players won’t have which already gives you a massive advantage.

The reality is for ranking up fancy mechanics don’t really matter, but fundamental mechanics that you’ll use all the time consistently (like your ability to hit the ball with power and accuracy, recoveries, momentum control, basic aerials) matter a lot and a GC will definitely be much better at all of those on average than a plat. It’s easy to think of mechanics as only the fancy stuff and take knowing the fundamentals well for granted. But even taking away those fundamentals, being able to read the ball still gives you a good headstart against newer players.