Agree. A slight workaround is to use full rudder and intermittently use about half differential brakes. You don’t want to use full differential brakes because you’ll come to a stop and have a hard time getting going with the nosewheel cocked over. This will make you have to start forward again, expanding the radius, before kicking it over.
For folks new to this: the real 172 nosewheel only steers to 10° with the pedals alone. It requires differential braking to get it to go all the way over to 30°. But full differential brakes shouldn’t stop the plane altogether - with the combination of that and enough power, you should basically be able to almost pivot on one main and turn in about a 30’ radius (book value is 27’). That’s where it’s unrealistic.