Yeah, it's probably going to be a struggle on the simulator without using an actual PD as the controller.
That said, you can pair a game controller (such as an xBox controller) to the simulator and use the right analogue stick as the carnk. Probably not going to get you past some of the later stages that require pretty precise control without a lot more practice than on a Playdate, but I found it relatively workable when I tried it (turning down the sensitivity in the Config menu helps a little there as well)