Nope, you are thinking of EPS. This is a steering wheel that is not connected to the steering rack at all. It is like a racing wheel for a game console and the steering rack is like a car in the game. Just software.
The complaint wasn't that they used an off-the-shelf controller, it's the fact that it was a no-name aliexpress special (and wireless to boot). They didn't even bother to use a well-respected brand like the wired xbox 360 controller, which has been used in all kinds of similar applications (they also didn't have a spare). It was obvious even to a relative layman that this was emblamatic of a cowboy attitude, compared to the carbon fibre hull which is much harder to evaluate.
