Honestly Tora you should go to ebay and find a cheap negcon. Definitely
I know how much you love that game ( in the way you kept 2097's roots for your recent project ), and negcon ( aka Neggie after spending many years with her ) is the ultimate controler especially for 2097/XL.
Your racing wheel is without a doubt better than the normal D-Pad but you must find one, trust me or use the search engine of this site , and google negcon on it you will see our long & interesting discussion about Neggie and of course the comments of the lucky owners