Yeah the 8BitDo Ultimate is perfect IMO, it's like a cross between a DualSense and an Xbox controller, even has hall effect sticks, so no drift.

Dualsense edge(the expensive elite controller for PS) has everything except hall effect sticks. The stick modules themselves are replaceable and iirc gulikit said they'll make hall effect ones

Same. I never really cared until I used them and now I can't go back. Unfortunately there's no one true perfect controller for me. I don't think there are any controllers outside of Sony that reallt have a trackpad. My go to controller at the moment is the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro which has the hall effect sticks, rear buttons and mechanical face buttons but the remapping software is next to useless and the gyro isn't as strong as a DualSense.

Ds4windows is still useful, it certainly has a few more options then what steam has integrated and ofc works for games not associated with steam. So there's definitely still dependance on it but for games that are on steam, steams controller support is actually pretty good and has worked well for the past few years. At least is has for me, I haven't had any issues or need for Ds4windows since like 2019