Never played Star Citizen myself but follow the development closely. From my understanding it's the only one (of the ones you mentioned) that simulates actual planets, orbits and has seamless transitions from space down to the pavement of a city.
No Man’s Sky also does seamless transitions from space down to the planets’ surfaces, though I’m not aware of there being any cities on any of the planets, just ancient ruins at best. It’s an infinite universe, but a deserted one (besides various animals and whatnot), and the main questline is about finding out why.
You have to watch closely and find the situations, and yeah Elite has this limiting unrealistic physics, but you have orbital mechanics you can even watch given the right system and patience, and you also can seamlessly transition from space down to planet, just systems are always jumps.
Plus, afaik Star Citizen is the only other game out there that has an equivalent of the "flight assist off" model (that is, has the option of allowing a spaceship to be flown more like a spaceship than a plane).
That toggle adds so much depth and skill to combat in Elite, it's a shame it isn't a more common thing in space games (also a shame that Elite itself doesn't really take advantage of it).
Yes, that exists, but still I found the Elite flight model with its unrealistic max speed limit a real downer.. and the arguments about it being the only way space fights would be fun and everything else too complicated for the masses a real lame excuse, and if there is any foundation to that easily solvable with more flight assist systems (that you could toggle off if desired).
Yeah the max speed limits are a downer. I never experienced the earlier Elite games unfortunately, but did get the experience of "true" spaceship control from KSP.
