I think I figured something out for light combos into heavy DP, and it’s the same insight I learned about drive rush cancels – the real insight, not what I thought it was last night.
The trick for me on both of them is to let go of the stick and let it return to neutral using spring force. Then input a dash using my normal motion. Same with inputting a standing LK into heavy DP. The timing is tight but it’s 100x more reliable than trying to hold and quickly push the stick into the forward position.
This works for gamepad too according to one of the YouTube guys I watch. Do a crouching medium kick (or whatever) then let go of the down button on the pad pad and immediately do a normal dash to cancel into drive rush.
Drive rush cancels aren’t needed in general at low rank, but it’s nice to know how to reliably perform the technique.