ok, stupid problem here. I opened my controller profile to the edit profile name screen, then clicked OK without editing the name. Now I had a profile with name: "Profile-Name_unique." So, I deleted it, thinking it was a duplicate The problem is I can't find my original profile, and I am not seeing the option to load any old/existing profiles or even to create a new profile. Maybe I'm just tired, but it seems like my original profile must still exist someplace. How do I recover it and load it again? Short of that, why am I not seeing an option to create a new profile from scratch?
Have a go at verifying your files in Steam, may bring it back, personally have no idea if this will work but can't do any more harm! Failing that delete local files through Steam then reinstall.
So there's no file in C:\Users\abc\Documents\My Games\SimBin\RaceRoom Racing Experience\UserData\ControlSet ? If there isn't the game should ask you to create a new profile upon start. If it doesn't, try deleting device_statistics.xml in C:\Users\abc\Documents\My Games\SimBin\RaceRoom Racing Experience\UserData. Or chose the default keyboard profile and edit any setting in there (like steer left). After doing so a new custom profile will be created automatically.