Woah! Too cool. I LOVED Freelancer. I think you've got yourself a fan already.

Will you be planning on adding a trading system like Freelancer? I enjoyed being able to take cargo from one 'sector' where it cost you X amount and be able to travel to another 'sector' where the value was up to Y amount so you can make a profit.

I also like the idea of having multiple contracts/missions/jobs you can perform throughout the who game world. If you went with online play you could then have each faction 'respond' to a successful contract against them with an equal contract back against another faction. This would add some dimension as if a heavy amount of contracts between two factions are completed it would turn into a mini-war between the two. You could also possibly have special contracts (simulating major battle/conflicts) when such a situation happens in the online managed world.

The screenies look great. I'm excited about your project for sure. Please keep us up to date on your game as it progresses. Very cool.