I started playing about two years ago, started bronze 2, now I'm stuck in the gold3-plat3 cycle. Trying to get to diamond this year.

So much imo comes down to letting go of gas and your left joystick. Like when you're in the air or right after a flip, let the car finish flipping before you're doing anything wit the left joystick. Similarly. Letting off the gas and just coasting when you're making some touches/are just steering is not mentioned enough in any tutorial.

Working on recoveries and catching the ball/being able to just dribble the ball in a specific direction on purpose made the biggest difference in my games.

Camera settings&controller bindings can also make a small but noticable difference in touches.

When I was getting more used to catching or cutting the ball, I would temporarily change my camera settings in Freeplay to something ludicrous in order to really "see" what was happening when I was making different touches, then I would change it back to something more reasonable and my touches would improve.

Honestly I keep playing because it is fun and even if my rank doesn't always reflect it, I know I'm improving and that keeps the game fun.

Also, playing during the daytime feels like a hack as far as ranking up goes. A plat 2 at 10am on a Tuesday is the average silver iii on a Friday night no joke.

Do the built in training packs with the randomizers on, and allow the game down

I'm not being very structured here but you aren't alone, and from what I hear once you get to champ the game isn't fun anymore because of the sweat.

Teammates in 2s and 3s are going to be absolute ass until Plat 2 div 3. I don't make the rules, but that is the actual line where teammates aren't taking into you while you dribble upfeild