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I guess the cheap variant of this is reduced power steering at higher speeds.

Creative gear tooth geometry lets manufacturers offer steering that's slow near the center and fast near the ends at far less cost.

Yes, that's the cheaper version they have on the BMW 3 and 4 series. Purely mechanical, but then also not speed dependent.

Does this actually change how much the wheel turns or just the level of power steering? The wiki seems to suggest it does, though this seems dangerous to me. You don't drive the same on the highway as you do in a parking lot.

It changes how much the wheel turns, but it's subtle / intuitive so you don't notice it's there. Unless you drive the same kind of car without the option, then you notice the steering seems not as nice.

It is also used by stability control to counter-steer small amounts of oversteer. But it can only do so for a relatively small amount of wheel angle change, not turn the wheel 90 degrees or something like that.

That is a really clever solution.