The stack exchange thread does not really talk about wheel rotation, it is more about moving bones along a curve in a snake like fashion, for trains, trailers to follow behind.
A side effect is that you can use the method to drive the wheel rotation as the drive control object only moves on one axis, and you can also use a bone to point the wheels into a turn.
I suspect that the python/animation nodes/baking solutions are the only way to get a “distance/speed I am traveling” value without a curve that fixes the trajectory.
Maybe it could be done with geometry nodes, I am not that good at vector math.
The animators I have seen (in videos, I am not a professional) all used curves to do cars.
These guys do a great rig with correct wheel rotation but I think they use curves too. (I have not used this addon but it looks good)
A game engine is a different matter, they do use the keyboard inputs to set acceleration and direction.