EVE is nowhere near as good as Jump to Lightspeed was for me. Not even close. It isn't hot-keys and auto-targeting unless you're only using missiles. I could go up in a Y-wing and have a friend in the gunner turret, or I could go up in my YT-2400 and have two friends in both turrets going crazy on anyone who got close. And just being inside a ship during a battle is some of the most fun I've had in that game. It was immersive to a ridiculous degree. EVE doesn't have anything as good as that.
I never got to experience atmospheric flight, but if TOR got a space expansion, even if it was exactly like Jump to Lightspeed, I'd never land again. As long as I could pick/customize my ship and have friends join me in combat.