I have just been out to the shops and picked up a copy of PC-Gamer (a UK mag) and to my shock and horror i have found a section saying that it is now possiible to play FL with a joystick!!! it reads like this
''Scandal! The last great space sim (E.V.E aside) seemed tailor-made for joystickery. Seeing as it involed chasing high-speed starships across intergalactic skies, but inexplicably came without support for them. This can be instantly remeidied with freebie app Joystick Mouse - http://mystikeep.com/shareware/joymouse which enables a stick to emulate a rodent. It wont introduce the force feedback effects Freelancer would so hugely benifit from, though.
I havent tried this myself yet as my m8 has my copy of at the mo but should anyone actually makes this work pls let me know