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It's seems worth pointing out that 360° videos seem clearly designed to be watched on your phone with Cardboard, not on your desktop.

Even without cardboard, the motion tracked mobile experience is much better than viewing it on a desktop.

I thought the same until I watched a 360 4k music video on my iPhone in the YouTube app and realized the desktop/laptop browser experience is irrelevant for this application.

And yet, the D-pad exists.

No idea. Actually the way this works in some players is a mouse drag acts as an analog stick, moving with proportionate speed the further you drag from the start. That's how QuickTime VR worked two decades ago and it seems we've regressed since.

That said, mobile and touch is a better platform for this experience, and using touch gestures the "globe spinning" behavior works better.

YouTube 360-degree live video