It’s an inherent limitation when you use grips based on real aircraft; these aren’t bad grips or designs, but for the price paid, I want something that fits my intended usage much better than shoehorning a realistic grip into a role it’s not really designed for.
This is why I’ve had great difficulty in justifying a replacement for my CH Fighterstick. It has 4 hats and 4 buttons and if I was to change anything on it, it’d be to make the trigger a dual stage trigger, change the hats to 4 way + push, add a two button rocker on the back, probably just above the thumb 4-way, and add an analog brake lever. That would handle most of my needs for almost every aircraft type I like to fiddle around with, plus the rocker would allow me a dedicated spot for zoom control. As it stands, I have to give up one hat for zoom control. In addition, I’d shorten the grip a bit as I have to stretch to reach the pickle and trim hat. The analog brake lever would be for various hand brake aircraft like Spitfires and MiGs, then double for the paddle switch on western jets. The baseline F-16 and F-18 grips don’t have any of this stuff (as the real aircraft don’t need them), which cramps my style.
In other words, I’d like to start from scratch and design a stick that works for ergonomic reasons and can fit several different types of simulations rather than a 1:1 real stick/grip. Especially if I’m throwing ~$400 at it!