I agree that new controls are needed, I play with a controller though, and it's not better at all. I avoid driving tanks like the plague for the same reason you do.I think it was made this way to for controller users. I myself have rarely driven a tank, except when required to, and it's because of these controls. They are much easier to controll with a controller though. But I would really like new controls.
It should be possible to change a few instructions in the executable to make tank steering no longer be relative to the camera. I will look into getting more information.
I thought you could set a certain vehicle to crush others with a simple tag. In fact, I'm almost certain I've seen it somewhere...Apparently this will have to wait for a patch. It shouldn't be too difficult to change the code to provide more flexibility here, but there's no data change that can accomplish this that I can see. You could make the tank a regular car, but I think that would automatically disable the crushing of other vehicles. It would also change how sturdy the vehicle is, because tanks take less damage from certain sources.
I thought you could set a certain vehicle to crush others with a simple tag. In fact, I'm almost certain I've seen it somewhere...
And as for changing the sources it takes damage from, a hacky temp solution would be to change the tweak_table.xtbl, but that would apply to ALL vehicles.