An epic masterpiece.
As the other reviews have said, Elite is the game that spawned an entire genre. I spent entire days "lost in space", trading from one planet to another. Never better than when I could trade between a tech level 2 anarchy and a tech level 15 Corporate State. Furs from one, computers to the other, 30 Tonnes at a time.
It was from this game that I learned the basics, never travel empty, missiles are expensive, always make sure you have money for fuel & trading, beyond that spend it on your ship, you'll live longer.
I remember being killed as I was being attacked by a pirate, it wasn't the pirate that killed me, but the fact that the priate killed my docking computer whil I was docking. From that point on, I did without a docking computer, and learned to manually dock, even under fire, and at speed.
Since then, like many of my contemporaries, I've been looking for the next elite, the next game worthy of the title. I thought freelancer was it, but it was over too quicky, and I-War2 was great, but it was a space opera. In itself no bad thing but it's not elite.
For those that would try it themselves, download the files here:
http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/c64/
Download the manual here:
http://home.clara.net/iancgbell/elite/archive/a/a5050070.txt
Until I find that game I will forever remember the blue danube & dropping out of hyperspace and arming and locking a missile on the first thing I saw on the radar, they may not be hostile but it never hurt to be prepared.