I'm glad that you bring an informed point of view. It all makes as lot more sense. Big wheel. Small wheel. Equal turning. After all, they're both just as round.
That tire size effect on turn radius has been hotly debated for years. Online. In real life. Almost as controversial as motor oil. A lot of people insist that size of the tire has nothing to do with turn radius. Yet, everyone with a lift and bigger tires will tell you that their turn radius circle got bigger. It's just like with motor oil.....you just keep doing what you're doing. Because no matter what anyone else says, when I drive the car, it's a larger turn radius circle and those u-turns aren't possible anymore.
We could also touch on whether bigger tires get better mileage.......another hot topic.
I was beginning to wonder if it's just perception. Sort of like driving a cab over axle truck. When you are sitting over the front axle, it feels like the truck is making tighter turns and turning on a dime. People also have perceptions of the cabover design being unsafe, since you're right up front with nothing protecting you. Despite the evidence that with conventional trucks, the engine gets pushed through the firewall, and that will kill the driver, not protect the driver.