There's a lot who wouldn't have the patience but then there's probably quite a few who have never seen anything like it and would be intrigued. It'd never be a smash hit on consoles (at least without turning it into some lame mmo) but I think it'd have enough appeal to do well

Just remember to grap the latest version from BerliOS. The 1.65 was the last version released by original author and is now over 3 years old. Current version is 1.73.3.
Oolite has also lot's of great mods (OXP) available made by it's active community.

My first contact with Elite was First Encounters (yes, that terrible one). The truth is, I hardly ever managed to run it (even on a 386), let alone play it (it was in English and my grip on the language was so weak then). After installing a fan-made patch, I briefly played it and I loved it. Unfortunately, It's the kind of game for joysticks and I don't have one, but maybe...
But oh, I remember reading the 150 pages manual more times that I can remember (especially the ship guide. It was so well written).
With the release of the old-school games on PSN (such as Wolfenstein 3D and the older Sonic games), I'd say that they would definitely sell (a lot of old-school gamers plays on consoles).
Remember that Ian Bell thought that the best version of Elite were for the Acorn and the NES (consoles conversion were quite popular at the time).

Elite is the only game I still play regularly on my rubber-keyed Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k (Yes, it's older than dirt, and still working! Take that Amstrad!)
I tried a couple of the PC versions, and was left....meh. Just didn't compare. At all.
Bloody screenlock system was weird too, - a little plastic multi-lens that jiggered two characters into focus on your screen as a copy protection.2 chances to get it right, or the game reset....and this was a tape loaded game. 4 or so minutes each time :P
Docking computer is the first thing I always buy, because sometimes the Coriolis Stations were hiding behind the planet, and getting to them without crashing was a real PITA.
And does anybody else know about the "bug" when you load it? Don't load a new commander, save, reload that, name as "Commander Jameson", Elite rated already, and gazillions in your pocket to upgrade your crappy Cobra Mk III ship :D
now where did I put my Speccy last time....? Be back later :P