I will start with two cool ‘tricks’. Please share yours if you have any : )
Gran Turismo 1&2: in these games, you can analogue accelerate and brake using the right dual shock stick. So if you have a controller that has analogue triggers, you can play them like a modern racer (progressive R2 accelerate/L2 brake) by swapping the right stick for the triggers and then use the right stick to shift gears, or look behind PGR style, or change the view or whatever you like. For XBox-type controllers (I use an xbone elite), these lines in the games’ cfg files will do the trick.
input_player1_l2_axis = "-3"
input_player1_r2_axis = "+3"
input_player1_r_y_minus_axis = "+5"
input_player1_r_y_plus_axis = "+4"
Shenmue 1&2: I find it very convenient and much more natural to walk and turn using the left stick and look around with the right one. A simple remap + input_player1_analog_dpad_mode = “1” is enough in this case.