<FOMD> Freelancer of my dreams. Work in progress (permanently).

[lIceColon]

I have some suggestions based on my perceptions on realism.
So, instead of having a system that has multiple disporportionate planets, you could make each system centered on a single, realistically sized planet, the map would be kinda like that of Sins of a Solar Empire. The star, instead of being in the center, would instead be in the great distance (perhaps painted on the background or 9999k away and non-selectable) Perhaps you could even coordinate the location of the star and graphics of each system so that multiple systems will appear to be orbiting the same star.
Due to the large planets, you can have trade lanes which mostly exist for the purpose of taking you around the planet and as well as to and from moons.
Gates could exist to take the ships between planets as well as other key locations.

but turning becomes hardcore

Perhaps you could make it so that all maneuvering (aside from adjusting orientation in drifting) consumes energy or fuel (eg. power core) in some way? Maybe slow the ship down in maneuvering to show that the thrust is being diverted around to emulate drag so that the ship can act like an aircraft without being in air?

Work hard on it, I look forward to being a complete noob on your demo