It is touchy, isn't it? I thought the problem was that most joystick games i've tried are digital rather than analogy. If not, maybe it's a bug. In a truly analog game, i'd expect the deadzone to do nothing, and a slightly higher tilt to gradually turn. Did you try messing with the threshold, such as reducing it to 0? An "acceleration" could be implemented, but i have my doubts it would get around the problem unless... maybe it would work to have a pseudo-analog mode that would oscillate the joystick events between neutral and tilt at a ratio based on the desired amplitude.