If you work your way through the licenses and stick at it to get gold for them all you can get quite far just from the cars you win, same with the menu challenges
I found it easier to learnt the track fully in the dry first, and then when doing the wet challenge go more steady than you think you should. Stick to the dry line and no need to be right on the ragged edge all the way round, just put in a smooth lap and you’ll get gold
If anything, a wheel slows you down at first! It is perfectly possible to do smooth steering inputs on a controller, and as mentioned, possible to get gold on everything too. Personally I won’t move on to the next test until I get gold
