I've been experimenting with a version of Jessie lite (the newer version of Raspbian custom packaged from adafruit with their drivers built in), which has been working well with the screen. I just need a small screen GUI for an MP3 player to go with it.
I've been checking out a few more guides, searching less specific criteria and found this guide where the dude has XBMC running on a (albeit larger) touchscreen in his car. I've not read through the whole thing properly yet, but I'll hopefully be able to cobble something together from his guide tonight.