Elite dangerous is the bain if my life like you I waited for the PS4 version but I can’t dock the thing to save my life, done it a few times more luck than anything and gave up, it’s not exactly noob friendly, I know people get HOTAS but I just can’t be bothered if I’m honest.
It's funny because one of the things people told me about the game before I played it was how hard the docking was, yet I've had no problems with it at all! It took me a while to work out that there's a trick knowing which direction to approach the pad, but in terms of manoeuvring I've not had an issue - and I think that's down to having the HOTAS. Aside from the whole immersion aspect, it does make flying a lot easier.
I also have an Asp Explorer as I absolutely love just going out into soace and exploring. You can also make good money selling planet data.My aim is to get to Sagittarius A which is the center on the milky way but its about 40000 light years away from where I am! If I run out of fuel im fucked!
You have the best ship for it. I did Sag.A and back in less that 1200 jumps, probably in 8 hours total I reckon (playing an hour or two a night for about a week). My tips for doing it are:
1) Engineer the FSD to Grade 5 - the most important step and worth the effort! I got a 52 LY range out of mine,
2) Install modules, like sensors and power plants, as D-Grade versions, as these help reduce mass and thus increase jump rang
3) Install two heat sink launchers in your Utility slots, giving you 6 heat sinks in total - vital if you ever get sloppy and fall too close to a star. I'd also fit an Auto-Repair module, just in case your fry any critical modules (and make sure to stock it with 'ammo' before you leave'.
4) Fit the best Fuel Scoop you can; in the AspEx, I put in a 6B in the top slot. It makes things so much quicker - you fill up your fuel by the time your FSD has recharged. And only the lowest class D-grade shield generator, you don't need a good one
5) Get an Advanced System Scanner and a Detailed Surface Scanner; whenever you drop out of hyperspace, scan as you scoop. Doing this 1200 times gives you a lot of explorer data to sell when you get back!
6) In your galaxy map, filter star types to only show types K G B F O A M. Then plot your routes about 5,000 LY at a time. That way, you will only jump to stars that you can scoop, so you won't have to worry about running out of fuel.