The flat bottomed wheel on the F-Type is substantially thicker than the regular round wheel. It also had larger areas for the ball of the thumb to rest against. All in all it feels much different to the hand than the round wheel.

I can see people preferring it for comfort unrelated to whether the bottom of the wheel is flat or not. It is not just a styling preference. It is a superior ergonomic experience.

 

I did a steering wheel swap on my XKR (2004) it wasn't very hard at all and I didn't end up with an airbag in my face. There is always a trick to it though and it would be good to find someone who had done it first otherwise you are likely to get the sequence wrong and end up with a problem. My flat bottomed wheel is heated as well so I know they make them. Finding one off a wrecked car should just take some looking as there have been a number of these things wrapped around polls or parked in other car's trunks. I'm tempted to buy a scrapper and use it as a mule to build something interesting.

 

Loads of things in life are made of the same stuff, but it’s the final shape that makes things different?. Applying your logic, a lot of cars are made of the same stuff so why not drive another cheaper aluminium car than a F-type ?

 

Maybe it’s for looks?

 

I special ordered my flat bottom heated steering wheel with my 2018 SVR. While it was not made available on the SVR's, it was one of several custom options that I ordered - so I believe that it can be done...

 

I bought a brand new OEM flat-bottomed steering wheel - heated - a few weeks ago and I am having it fitted on 25 January.
Replacing my stock "round" heated wheel.
I am 99.9% sure it will fit with zero problems and I will report back once it is fitted (or not!).

 

I vaguely recall seeing posts from people who've done swaps having to use the original wheel's PCBs, so that might be something to be aware of.