I used to enjoy playing a submarine simulator (688 Attack Sub, IIRC) but it's not that dynamic. Elite was firmly rooted in the Star Wars vision of space combat, which was in turn based on WW2 naval air combat. I remember a bunch of games based on Star Trek but they never became massively popular because they were based much more on strategy than action.

On the upside it's not an atmospheric flight model in Elite. You can orient yourself freely if you're not thrusting, and indeed 'flying backwards' by getting some thrust going and then doing a 180 so you can fire at the enemy with your forward-facing weapons is a pretty essential tactic.