Is this considered ugly by minimalist (say Apple like) oriented designers? Could an UI like this, to be used by experts most efficiently, be redesigned with a minimalistic mindset, or the complexity of the underlying system has to appear?
This is designed to be used by experts most efficiently. This is already minimalist. Single function (non-modal) buttons are the fastest, most fail-proof way of controlling state. Peek into the cockpit next time you get into a plane. I was actually a bit surprised that there is a "Multifunctional Rotary Switch" which appears to be modal.
Don't confuse visual minimalism with actual simplicity. I believe BMW did that with their iDrive system.
And lots of soccer moms would complain if a car for sale had that kind of wheel.
However this wheel is not for the mass market, it is for a very small group of professional drivers that make a living using it, so it is totally irrelevant if a designer likes it or not.
