Found something interesting.

A gathering of space simulation enthusiasts have made a new game that is based on the same gameplay, that made Elite and Frontier so popular.

The graphics engine is up to date, planets look great up close on a powerful machine.
Resolution and fullscreen, etc. is configured from within the game.

The game is still alpha quality, but suprisingly playable, and is multiplatform and fully open source - so everybody can contribute to the project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqtY_TqUxTU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aVf-8qVdsg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K3jRY5BfWk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W--xjO2AWs&feature=related

http://pioneerspacesim.net/

Wow! This does indeed show promise.

Can't believe I've missed it. Thank you for the tip. :D

You should both drop by Space Sim Central. There is a whole section of that forum dedicated to Pioneer. Even it's devs are regular visitors. Here is a link http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/

What's the Joystick support like?

Q: How many ears does Captain Kirk have?
A: Three; a right ear, a left ear, and a final frontier.

This looks absolutely awesome. I'm going to keep an eye on this to see how it turns out. The only gripe is that when you enter the ship, the interior is bigger than the exterior, but still - it's very early days, and there's a lot of promise. Rotten veg at the ready...

Ha....Ha...............Ha *dies*

I've been following the project for a long time but I\ve long wished someone showcased the level of actual gameplay it has other than flying around and exloring (combat, trade, missions, AI etc.).

I struggled to catch the joke, because I did not imagine that depended on English phonetics, but I can finally say:

hehe: D

In the same spirit:

Q: What does a Romulan frog use for camouflage?
A: A croaking device.

Wow looks sweet. It slipped past my radar too, but I'm downloading it right now.

Thought I would also point out that Pioneer has a presence on Mod DB. Here is a link http://www.moddb.com/games/pioneer

And yes the game does have joystick support, although I always use a mouse to play it.