My humble opinion, if you're going to play a game like this, you should have a HOTAS, rudder pedals, and trackIR. Both the pedals and TrackIR were complete game changers for me. One bit of advice- if you get TrackIR, adjust it until you're happy with the way it's working.
For me at least, if something about it wasn't working to my liking it didn't go away, I didn't get used to it, kind of like a bad tooth. It's a more personal setting than your joystick buttons, IMO. Tweak it til you're happy. It will take some time, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Wiley.