I appreciate greatly all your suggestions and kind words. Far better is it to receive consideration for one noobishness,
than get kicked from a game for not being 'l33t' enough for them! (a big fault w/ Xbox Live, ya know.)
I'd have to say that half my issues last night were simply caused by not being familiar with the maps and their terrain, and the other half by not being familar enough with the driving and the mech systems controls. With time, that can only improve!