In the '80s, Elite was magic. The annotated source code shows how it was done
theregister.com
theregister.com
It's unfortunate to see the state of the game as the business side begins taking it's toll, such as with the Odyssey release.
At this point, I think my next gen dream game has the space flight model of Elite, the atmospheric flight model and volumetric clouds and lighting of MSFS, the simulation depth of Star Citizen, and the creativity, art direction, and company "pay it forward" spirit of No Man's Sky. All with first class VR + HOTAS support.
This post has nothing to do with Elite: Dangerous (other than a nod in it's name). It is about a game for the BBC Micro from the 80's