That is weird - can you try restarting the game wihtout the controller attached?
Viewing post in Burnin' Rubber 3 - 1.4 update comments
I dont think that last issue is related to the controls one.
All Shockwave games occasionally run out of all kinds of memory. This can happen faster on some machines with some of the advanced, experimental features on. It is old tech and harder to maintain, which is odd since machines got more powerful :(
About the controls issue - I am out of ideas. I tried on multiple machines with and without controllers, but I could not reproduce.
If it wont work you can apply for a refund through https://itch.io/support Sorry for the inconvenience.
-Pieter