Virtual joysticks question

I want to try building a virtual joystick (or two) that you grab and tilt to maneuver a vehicle, but I'm not sure where I should start in exploring that idea. I've figured that I'll need to have the player parented to the vehicle, but then I guess I need to figure out how to split up the controls so tilting the left joystick is forward/backward/side to side, and the right controller is heading and pitch. The speed would be dependent on how much the joystick is tilted.

Has anyone ever tried this before? Any suggestions how I could get started exploring this idea?

 

There are some mobile joystick samples in the built-in Crossplatform input package (right click over project window, import Crossplatform package)

 

For Vive though? What you're suggesting sounds like those circular game pads for mobile games...

 

Oops, didn't notice it was in vr forum..