You may want to focus on improving at the game more first, it will help you in the long run. No offense, but that's not a very accurate measure of skill.
ok, i play non-spacebar rarely now and i'm bad at spacebarring just because i don't think before unpause, also, i don't cheat without TAS
It probably just takes time, I don't spend a bunch of time thinking before unpausing, almost none, but it doesn't cause me a problem because I've done it for so long. I often unpause and press the keys at the same time, so it's the same effect as holding them down during spacebar. I suggest just to practice with the spacebar a bit more, and you will see some improvement. Even if you don't try very hard and don't take it very seriously, you'll see improvement, for example: I left the game around 2020, I wasn't very good and didn't take ghosting seriously. After I came back, I still didn't (and still don't) take ghosting very seriously, as in like competition or trying hard on a track. I came back, and I seemed to gain skill from out of nowhere, after an 8 months break. ^ I'd think this is at least some sort of a proof that, even if you don't try, you'll still improve no matter what.
dblu we are number one tplacella unspoken rusty clarkson (i think) skijumping masonnumba2 (i think) there's a bunch I'm forgetting ofc but this is who all comes to mind. a top 20 could probably be done, a lot of the good old school players def weren't spacebarrers (pityboy, mikewi, kiva, etc.) edit: in the interest of being honest i'd probably be somewhere up there too, I do spacebar some stuff but 90% of my ghosts are non spacebarred or at most likely a second or two spacebarred for a hard cut or something. there's no way I could spacebar 10000 community classic tracks and keep my sanity lol. every dirt jump top 10 from me is nonspacebarred for sure
idk I never spoke to the guy, seemed like with the tracks he played it was unlikely but it was mostly a guess. still a goat tho
i knew you didnt spacebar bc your ghosts just dont seem twitchy and heavily dependent on the back wheel, along with the fact that your double-z inputs arent as fast as spacebarred ones in other news this guy is crushing my chances of even being a top 100 nonspacebar ghoster he beat like 40 of my ghosts almost overnight