Steering is a core interaction method involving continuous movement along constrained paths, extensively studied in 2D. Researchers have extended these studies to 3D using the Ring-and-Wire and Ball-and-Tunnel tasks, which are fundamentally different. Yet, prior work often treated them as interchangeable and built upon them accordingly. In this paper, we directly compare the two tasks through a within-subjects user study (n = 18) with varying 3D path orientations. Our results show that Ring-and-Wire significantly outperformed Ball-and-Tunnel, with 17.17% lower task time, 24.16% higher throughput, and 22.78% faster average speed. Participants also preferred Ring-and-Wire and reported lower workload. A key challenge for the Ball-and-Tunnel task was visual ambiguity in spatial boundary perception, particularly around the rear tunnel surface. We conclude that these two tasks are not interchangeable and recommend that future studies carefully consider task selection when designing 3D steering experiments.