I was looking for something recently too, having broken the L1 button on another controller. I didn't want to pay the money for a new one just for WOHD, but in the end I Couldn't find anything I liked the look of, so I bought the Gioteck real triggers. When I tried the trigger buttons without them I was hopeless, but with them I'm reasonable. They still aren't as good as L1/R1 for me but if you prefer more control with something like the triggers anyway then it could be the best option. They're very cheap so worth a try.

After a search, there seem to be a lot of threads about controls and a few that venture into controllers.

Some useful threads:
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/sho...ght=controller
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/sho...ght=controller

As a general thought, you can be good with any control setup. I used to always wonder about d-pad vs. stick, for example, and would sometimes try to blame my setup for not being as good as I wanted to be, but it's really not about the controller at all (for most people), it's just about practice.

The threads for control setups and controllers are so numerous and spread out that, in order to keep it a bit more organised, I've to merged the thread "Third-party PS3 controllers?" with this "Best Gamepad for WOHD" thread.