Way back in the 90's I had a Trustmaster FLCS rig. I used the keyboard for views then. When the TM Cougar came out I used a hat for views but not in the typical sense. I set them such that, iirc, forward and hold on the hat would look straight up, release to center would look up and forward, forward and release to center would look straight ahead again. Or something like that, it's been a long time. The other directions on the hat would perform similarly. It was intuitive and worked well for me. I never liked using the in between positions for anything on an 8 way hat.
VR is nice. I've had two headsets. I don't like giving up my keyboard or other devices I can't see with a headset on. TrackIR is perfect for me.
