I want to play this game that recommends using a controller, but NONE of mine seem to work. Then when I even try to use a keyboard for controls just to TRY it, that does not want to work either. I am just about at the point of returning this game that I KNOW I will enjoy if only I had working controls. I cannot seem to find any one else that has this problem, and YES, my controllers are working with everything else I have installed. Any help is appreciated.

Same here. There was a lengthy discussion of the problem on Steam years ago and the devs responded and apparently tried to fix it, but they never actually managed to make it work. A few people managed to use third-party controller drivers but the company seems to have generally shunned their responsibility to make their game work the way every other racing game does.

EDIT: I just tried a new thing. It occurred to me that with Steam's excellent support of DS4 controllers, I might try running the game through Steam and see if it picks up the input layer that way. Bear in mind that I'm running Linux on this machine, so if you're not, YMMV. But I did get full controller functionality that way. If you have a Steam account and can add the game to your Steam client list, you may have better luck with it.

Couple of things 1st:

What controller? E.g. brand and type, Xinput or DirectInput.

Do you have more gamecontrollers plugged in? If yes, unplug all unused controllers before starting the game.

Are the buttons and axis correctly bound within the game? See control options.