You could get the Gamecube version of NFSC and play it with a GC controller. I haven't played this game on the GC but i have played other NFS games on the GC and they were fine. When i played this game on the Wii with the Wii-mote it was horrible, they really messed up the car sensitivity and controlling the cars while turning on the Wii-mote, but the GC version on a regular controller should be ok.
Excite Truck plays ten times better and is a lot of fun for a while, but the lack of depth really gets boring after a few days. I'd still recommend it though.