I agree 100%,! Sad as this sounds I do not believe the Devs/Dice/or anyone involved in this Game really cares about finding a solution to whom they consider niche players. I, like you find the game to be Immersive and realistic while piloting with a Joystick/HOSAS/HOTAS and have made many threads referring to this very question since the alpha tests began last year.
During the life of BF2042 I asked the same and sadly the response was similar......Silence!
I am aware of only one software, Joy2Key but be advised Windows 11 will not run this, at least I could not get it to run and it has high Lag/latency while using it.
Again I respond. without the support of fellow Gamers this will continue to fall under the map. This has always been one of my questions to the Devs, If Controller can be added for console support then why not Joystick/HOTAS for PC Gamers?