As always, your own preferences take precedence, but IMHO it is much more effective to use a mouse for controlling the view, at least. Very often you will be surrounded by foes or one will pass behind you, and you will need to turn around rapidly to locate your target. While a Cruiser may be slow to actually turn around, you can center the screen on your target, and you can keep it locked there while your Cruiser fires its broadsides.

I would try a mouse instead of a gamepad. But again, if you're sold on the gamepad you may want to investigate some other options. (Like a different pad, as others have suggested)

Another alternative might be to zoom out your view. While that might be more difficult to follow the action, you can use the previous target/next target buttons on your pad to select targets without having to actually center the screen on them.

Can someone lease tell me how I would set the mouse for controlling view? And, can I still use my gamepad if I have the mouse set for controlling the view?

If I go to the OPTIONS area, which movement option do I select? Can someone cut/paste so I can try it?

one last thing.....................

Is there a way to do a complete 360 for ground based missions? Can what be setup via a gamepad?

On which note, why can't I use a joystick of gamepad to control my ship? Is there some way of doing so?