One more question...why is there a delay in keyPressed() when rotating? The method fires once imidiatly, then there is a delay. and then it fires again, after that its smooth.
That's the key auto-repeat. Open up Notepad (or whatever) and hold down a key. You'll see the same effect.
To get around it, implement both keyPressed() and keyReleased() to set and clear flags for the keys you are interested in. Don't assume that keyPressed() means that the key is being held down - it doesn't work like that.
If I recall, this also came up in the thread that deadly72 linked to.
Simon