Rider Animation when changing gears......

[Grooveski]

That stick was a cheap piece of junk - was glad when it fell to bits.  That's me trying to make little corrections and nothing actually happening because the stick seemed to have a huge built-in deadzone. 
After that I splashed out on a CH CombatStick and man was it worth it. 

Bike lean, front brake and throttle on the stick along with gears, lookback, reset and waves.
Rider lean on the pad plus the back brake and clutch.   Walk f/b on the dpad.

...and hey, I'm no spring chicken either.   Cushion under the butt and leaning against the couch.    My weak spot is the leg that's crossed under - by the end of a race that can be stone dead and I'm limping around trying to wake it up.