I used the hat switch for something like ten years before I got my TIR. At first it is kind of odd, but soon it started working for me. Then I started modifying the profile until it fit me. Now I can't fly without it. In fact I don't even have views mapped to my hat switches. I do have center and pause. ( F9, and F12 I think.) One thing that kept messing me up was the roll axis. I turned that off in the beginning, and have never felt the need to turn it back on. Everyone is different so I would recommend that you try several different profiles and then tweak the one you like best to suit you. I believe "The Fugitive" has collection of TIR profiles.
Another thing, you can set up your default forward view so that it is the default forward view in TIR. Just center the view in TIR, pause, set the forward view to your preference, press F10, un-pause, and that should be the default forward view whenever you hit the center button.
Sik