It's even more subtle than that.
Evidently (since I haven't done it myself) the breakout force to just start moving the rudder in the A300 is 25 lbs. And the force for maximum deflection is 35 lbs.
Your legs and feet are very poor position sensors, and are not used as such by pilots very much. They are also pretty poor force sensors.
A high breakout and not much more force to get to maximum deflection is a pretty good way to get into a PIO, according to the late Ralph Smith, who was an acknowledged expert on this matter.
I remember clearly the day he came into my office to talk about this very accident and was pretty strong in his opinion that this was traceable to the mechanical characteristics of the system.