Can you get a "flexible coupling" in a more hardcore material than rubber?

Such as the attachment - (rubber)

MSA in the USA sells them in Polyurethane. Nissan used to (I *think* they still do) sell a harder rubber version through the Nismo catalog.

The purpose of that coupling was only to provide a softer feel to steering inputs. It is meant to be flexable in rotation, not to align the steering shafts. The u-joints in the assembly take care of shaft alignment.

Performance users would want less lag between steering input and the result. Like Carl said there are polyurethane upgrades available. I made mine out of solid aluminum. You could get one made for $20/$30, our do it yourself for $2 worth of aluminum.