You can play with every game pad, you don't need an xBox one controler, it gives you more feedback though wehn you for example hit the engine limiter, turbo punch or when you spin the engine to high.
You shouldn't play with a keyboard though, you sometimes need to stear harder or more softly, depending on the car. For example, while you need to really stear into the curves when you are piloting a Porsche 916 spyder, while only soft turns are required with a 1993 Nissan Skyline black edition.
It depends on the car really, you just have to learn and get a feel for the thing.
Regarding tutorials, there are quite a lot, there is my basic tutorial and the series from Timberwolf. For easier location, here is the link for my demo of the game, should give you a good introduction to the game.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7320xmsiikpi7 … o.mp3?dl=0
Since the demo I turned off some of the assistance though, mainly automatic steering to manual with clutsh, stability and traction control is also off.
Greetings Moritz.
Hail the unholy church of Satan, go share it's greatness.