Something we have been doing sucessfully for decades.

The problem with analog sticks is that the distance between neutral and any direction is bigger than in the D-pad, which makes the analog stick slower (Time = Distance/Speed, so if your fingers have always the same speed...). That's why we don't have double tapping inputs (forward, forward, for example) in games anymore except in fighting games. For the same reason analog triggers suck too.

If you still have doubts about how important responsiveness is, just compare the wheel of a road car and any race car.

. Yes, but my point is, you can have a stable performace with the D-pad, so while you cant keep the small steer, you know how much its going to steer if you press it for a certain ammount and you can plan the perfect performance. The analog is twitchy and any little movement can throw you off this planned performance, its unstable that way. I prefer a driving method i can plan with predictable behaviour than one that is twitchy. Its my preference at any rate.

Also i find it difficult to hold the analog in a certain intermediate position for a long time, aswell as making sudden trajectory repairs without oversturning because its difficult to have rapid but subtle reactions

Pulling up your trophy achievements doesnt really change anything. Unless you're a robot you cant do clear left and right steering with the analog controller. Its also gonna go up or down a bit when you turn. That is unprecise and feels slow to me.

Its alot like playing Daytone USA with an analog stick. It just feels terrible and its unprecise in games that are really sensible like it. Wich is why the saturn version is still the best.

Ok I have to comment on this. The d - pad is not precise for racers.

The reason why a game like Daytona USA feels fine with d - pad is because its the most unrealistic and arcadey controlled car out there. on top of that it was designed to be used with a d - pad controller in mind.

Games like Forza, F1 2011, GT, Need For Speed have a proper gradiant system on the analog control. You can gain seconds per lap if you learn to hold certain corners with certain amounts of steering on whic is scientifically impossible on a D-pad.

I guarantee I would thrash anyone using a D-pad on any racer designed for a console with an analog stick. Because the physics design and the control design is centered around using % of turn rather than tapping the d-pad which is highly unprecise.

Its actually a scientific fact that the D-Padder would lose.

It may feel more comfortable for you, but you would get nowhere near the times I set on Forza 4 or F1 2011 for example. It takes some practice but you would be much quicker learning to use the analog stick. Even better a decent FF wheel. Which you can go even faster than an analog stick due to feeling the slide before its even visible on the TV.

D-Pad I would say would be at least 3-5 secs slower a lap in the same car on Forza 4 due to precision. And even worse against a FF wheel.

Daytona USA was an arcade game before it was ported to the saturn and the cabinet had a wheel, so it wasn't designed to be used with a d-pad.

Sadly I don't have a X360, but if you have a PS2 and GT4 we can see how much faster the analog is.

The Saturn version had no analog steering. They wrote te controls on Saturn for D-PAD.

I have a PS3 if you can do GT5. And yes I will show just how fast and precise analog steering is to digital.

Especially wen in a long sweeping corner on a game like Forza 4 or GT5 as tapping the D-pad to make the turn causes the car to roll unnessarilly causing a realistic need to come of the gas or deal with extra tyre slippage. Becasue these titles replicate physics properly.

Why would people want the analog stick repositioned? Is it just because they want it to be similar to the 360's or is there some other reason?

It's mostly down to the fact that your default position when your thumbs are at rest should reflect on the inputs that are used most. The original Dualshock actually reflected this perfectly; most PS1 games used the D-pad and the face buttons, so they were placed evenly on the controller, with the analog sticks in secondary positions. And let's be clear: the lower spot on the controller is the secondary position. The Dualshock was designed that way and carrying over that design (where the thumbstick is not in a natural resting position) means that the thumbsticks are still in the secondary position.

The Gamecube and Xbox controllers addressed this by putting the left analog stick in the primary position, opposite the face buttons, since most games use the one thumbstick and the face buttons, while the D-pad and second analog stick serve secondary function only.

The Wii U pro controller is meant primarily for FPS games and other dual analog titles, so both analog sticks are in the primary position.

The Dualshock can certainly keep its current button/pad/stick placement, but it's an indication that analog gaming is not the focus of the controller's design. If analog gaming is the focus of the system, then the controller's design should reflect that.