In the scheme of things, there is greater realism if you "zoom out". To explain what Huggie said, systems in Freelancer are part of much larger nebulae, and the "empty regions" between them are open pockets within those nebulae - not the other way around (pockets of asteroids in open space).
Also, realism is far too much effort to execute in Disco. There is a certain suspension of disbelief required to play Freelancer that continues on in the mod.
