It’s true that you have to reach for your controller every time you want to change anything, but as it is now, I have to reach for a mouse every time anyway and have a silly floating pointer in my face, so I don’t think reaching for a controller would be any worse.
Also, in many of my other sims that I use external hardware for (like racing), I either just let the controller hang from my wrist by the wrist-strap, or keep it on my hand using the “knuckle straps” (which keeps it stuck to the back of my hand while keeping the front/palm free to grasp a yoke or wheel).