I owned a 2002 w210 for many years and enjoyed driving via the cruise control stick (up faster and down slower) in no particular increment. I was my own distronic system for matching speed.
I now upgraded to a 2008 gl 320cdi and I like the +5/-5 but the light touch up 1 down 1 is difficult to not over stroke. I was wondering if there is a programming method to revert to the old style cruise control.

I actually find it's quite easy to control - but I remember that when the car was new to me, it took a little getting used to. If the car (stick) is new to you, I would just give it some more time and practice. There's a pretty good detent between light touch and full stroke - you'll get used to it - you just need to learn a little more finesse. Try slowing down your "tapping".

In my experience, +1 and -1 are just a tap (move the stalk maybe 1/4 of an inch; duration less than a couple of milliseconds)... +5 and -5 is a full lever extension, lasting about 0.5 seconds.

Or this.. How to Use Mercedes Benz Cruise control

Never had any issue with it, the incremental detention a pronounced enough to fine tune your speed. In fact it works so well that I usually +5 my way up to cruise speed and fine tune it while there. Rarely do I use my right foot anymore, unless in heavy traffic, which I avoid like the plague.

I see now there is a difference between US and Canadian cars. In my car the cruise control goes up by 1km/hr increments or if you go full it will go to the nearest 10km/hr mark. For example if you drive 91km/hr it will go to 100km/hr at long press. But also if you drive 98km/hr it will go to 100km/hr on long press. Same for down shifts.

It's clear that he has a stalk bearing issue and the 30 weight ball bearings were not up to the job on the heavy GL. The diesel GL's, especially the 2008 CDI, were made from chinesium when the unobtainium stalk bearings were in short supply from Germany. Some say it was due the the muffler bearing workers strike but I'm not sure I agree. Either way, to this day, there are those that believe the muffler bearing workers union strike is one of the reasons why the OM642 equipped vehicles are plagued with various issues.

Euro cars work the same way. i km/h increments and the full push will get you 10 km/h. My car is actually a US car but I brought it to Europe and just recoded it with my Autel tool. When you switch the dash display to Km/h from mph it automatically changes the cruise function as well.