Somewhat impressive but also kinda not as others have pointed out. Also, oof the yoke looks absolutely horrible for real driving. He was fighting that thing constantly even on straightaways. I actually looked up other Nurburgring attempts with other cars, and yup, the drivers didn't have to fight the steering nearly as much, and didn't matter if it was a track car or say the Taycan.
Which honestly, I'm curious how much of it is trying to make a car that was never designed at any point for track use, to try to be fast around a track, how much is the physical yoke, and how much is the steering calibration. Not sure if someone, like Lotus, that has decades of expertise on setting cars up for handling, could get more. I'm kinda mixed, on the one hand, I'm glad Tesla abandoned the idea of all the track mods (wheels/tires, rivted on spoiler, think it also had a front splitter, etc), as it would certainly help at the track but would have really hurt its day to day electric car capabilities (reducing range). But, I'd be curious how much that would change its time.
Which, the yoke idea could be remedied fairly easily in a couple of ways. One would be a foldable steering wheel, where the top and bottom circular pieces fold flat against the steering column in some modes, but then say in a race mode or other where the full wheel (along with it adjusting the steering tuning) would work better, it could pop up. That would be a nice visual cue to help differentiate the steering calibration for instance. Or adding knobs (kinda like the ones that truckers add to their steering wheels) to each side (like at the upper points of the yoke aligned to the center of the wheel) that would give you something to hold while turning the steering aggressively. That would even enable you to ditch the lower part of the yoke as well. Heck, even just one of those on the lower middle section, which could double as a big tactile horn button would likely make parking easier.
I have mixed feelings on Tesla's approach. Yes, it's awesome to have PS5 level hardware, but at some point it will become outdated. Tesla will may offer an upgrade, but then you are paying thousands for console level hardware. Also creates a lot of e-waste for something that has limited use. Meaning, we need FSD level 5 to be a reality, the driver wanting to game or actual passengers in the car. All things that will eventually happen, I just have doubts it will be in the near future. It's an exercise in the possible and I hope to be proven wrong.
I think the gaming aspect is actually somewhat smart, but not for FSD, but rather to kill time while charging.
Especially when coupled with sitting in the car and being able to have the steering wheel function for control, I also think it could be really interesting for other uses. Think driver's ed where before you ever actually drive, you have it running a simulated course with the car showing the scenario, and then the steering is showing you how to steer for that situation. Then it lets you act out the scenario, evaluating you and then providing feedback.