https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39891
--- Comment #25 from Bruno Jesus 00cpxxx@gmail.com --- (In reply to Omar from comment #24)
I think that may actually be it.. If you run xboxdrv with --mimic-xpad it sets the Product ID to 0x028E which is the ID for the wired controller.
The game could have a hard-code check for the wired controller pid so it auto-configures it.