The GT's steering wheel, with its audio and climate control switches in perfect placement for thumb control without removing the hands from their optimal positions, is a very nice piece of work. My only complaint is a minor one. The rib of stitching that crosses the top of the thumb indents chafed my thumbs after a long period of driving. I may only have noticed this because I just drove the Acura TSX, a car the Mazda6 has been compared to for more reasons than just styling. The steering wheel in the Acura is just about perfect. 
With the Acura in mind the Mazda isn't quite as refined as some of its competitors either. I'd put it on par with the Nissan Altima, but it doesn't quite measure up to the TSX or Honda Accord for that matter, the former targeted directly at the top-tier 6. The Toyota Camry is more refined too, but I don't think it is a direct competitor for the sportier Mazda. I won't delve into packages and prices during this road test as I covered it recently in an exhaustive preview, but will say it has a great deal of competition in both its $24,295 base GS model and $34,105, fully loaded GT-V6. In the lower end the aforementioned Honda Accord starts $495 lower at $23,800 while delivering slightly more torque and identical horsepower. The more powerful Altima 2.5 S begins at an even lower $23,798. In the mid $30K range a bevy of lower end premium brands, like the Acura, are available. While Audi's A4, BMW's 320i and Saab's 9-3 don't offer quite as many features as the Mazda6, many will go with less to access the cachet these brands bring.