Side-stick use in an auto - this has been referred to a couple of times. Firstly we only need control in a single dimension in a car (left/right), unlike an aircraft where we'd like left/right and up/down. There is also the simplicity factor - even with power-steering, basically the deflection of the steering column, results in a directly proportional deflection at the wheels. Trying to do this another way would undoubtedly be more complicated and (more significantly) cost more. You can be pretty certain that a 'better' way of controlling a car would have made it's way into the Formula 1 world at some point over the last 20 years, given the multi-million $$$ world that is. To date, there has been no fundamental change with respect to the use of a steering wheel.