@Damage Inc agree, using a gamepad to control a vehicle in VR is just strange.
It might not be your normal sort of thing but have you ever tried VTOL VR - an indie VR flying game. All you hold in each hand is the Oculus Rift hand controller. This allows you to flip cockpit switches, push and pull levers, select MFD displays and even 'hold' the flight controls naturally. It's one of the most intuitive and innovative control systems I've experienced, much closer to a real cockpit than pressing keys on a keyboard. There is no weight to the flight controls of course as it's just your hands but it fools the brain well into feeling like you are holding the throttle and stick. It does make me wonder what could be achieved if developers were willing to be more creative and take a risk, I'm sure someone could come up with a good handlebar solution for VR.
It might not be your normal sort of thing but have you ever tried VTOL VR - an indie VR flying game. All you hold in each hand is the Oculus Rift hand controller. This allows you to flip cockpit switches, push and pull levers, select MFD displays and even 'hold' the flight controls naturally. It's one of the most intuitive and innovative control systems I've experienced, much closer to a real cockpit than pressing keys on a keyboard. There is no weight to the flight controls of course as it's just your hands but it fools the brain well into feeling like you are holding the throttle and stick. It does make me wonder what could be achieved if developers were willing to be more creative and take a risk, I'm sure someone could come up with a good handlebar solution for VR.