Is it possible to simulate inputs?

I’m trying to create a ghost vehicle. If I don’t want to save location/rotation and interpolate the points, would be possible to record inputs (for example throttle and steering), save the data and plug them into my ghost vehicle (which has the same functionality)?

I tried this many many times but it doesn’t work. What is the difference between an input coming from my gamepad or an input coming from another source if the values are the same? I want to remind that my vehicle uses physics, am I missing something? Seems such a simple concept but it doesn’t work at all! Hope someone can help me