Working with percentages in the interval $[0, 1]$.
We can represent percentages with the interval $[0, 1]$ (your code will use $[-1, 1]$ because you will need negative thrust to indicate backwards). 0 corresponds to 0%, and 1 corresponds to 100%.
$(0)^3 = 0$ and $(1)^3 = 1$, so we can still easily go full throttle when we need to. But notice that the cubic grows more slowly than `y=x` (in the interval $[0, 1]$). This makes it easier to input precise movements, because the joystick is less reactive and jumpy for small inputs.