Deceleration is the only thing it does better and with permaboosting it doesn't matter. I just don't see many of the top PvP bothering to toggle FA much if at all anymore.
But to break down my comment in slightly more detail:
"AFAIK many if not most top PvP pilots fly full FAOff in combat using KBAM."
The AFAIK here wasn't meant to apply to the full FAOff part because watching YT/streams it's pretty obvious they fly full FAOff in combat.You can see the "Assist off" alert never disappear from the HUD. What I meant was "As far as I know, ... , using KBAM". Because without the mouse widget on, you can't really be sure if they're flying KBAM, HOTAS or gamepad. But based on discussions, most top PvP pilots fly combat using KBAM.
"Having just made the transition from a gamepad / HOTAS on PS4 to a throttle and mouse on PC, it's much more precise with a mouse."
This argument I will stand behind any day of the week. Mouse is more precise which is why a mouse is such a super invention in the first place, it's pretty much the only human-computer-interface device (well tablet and stylus is basically the same thing just dressed differently) with both the speed as well as the precision as to never feel lacking. It truly makes the mouse cursor an extension of your arm. Touch would be potentially even better except that it's not really for pixel- precision work, when you punch that wet bag of flesh (aka finger) on the panel, you're firstly obstructing the thing you're trying to interact with, plus you're covering quite a lot of screenspace area so it's much harder to provide precise coordinates.
"Easier in pretty much every way except for the stupid forced-FA-on supercruise."
Now this could be debated but I personally can't simply bring myself to toggle FA on anymore for any activity. It is easier to me to stick to one mode and let that become second nature. Nowadays I'm much more consistent at docking, placing seismic charges, shooting abrasion blasters or firing PAs / rails / fixed lasers or MCs at other ships staying in FAOff with my throttle and mouse combo. I have lats/verts on an analog stick on my throttle index finger, roll on the rudder flaps (middle and pinky fingers), fwd/rev under the thumb on one four-way hat. The throttle is forward only and normally pulled back to 0% throttle, used mostly only for launching into supercruise/witchspace and for SC traveling.
I just can't wrap my mind around it anymore after so many hundreds of hours of full FAOff. I was concerned if this was a serious handicap since I want to get better in PvP combat so I watched a lot of videos by the pros who I follow on youtube (L'in, Yamato, Falter, Replicant, Ellerimkirli, Hazzmango, Rinzler, ...), and FAOn is by far the exception, not the rule.
Now @Morbad I know you're a known FAOn proponent or rather a "right tool for the job" proponent but you have been pretty openly stating that in your opinion FAOff is rarely the right tool. Anyone who's been around for even a while should know to respect your opinion, I do too, immensely, but I honestly find you an outlier in this regard.
It just doesn't make sense to me that in competitive PvP, the top pilots either wouldn't have the skills required for toggling FA when needed, or that they would fly FAOff just for the sake of some perceived exclusivity or extra challenge. As far as I can tell, competitive PvP forces you to take advantage of every little advantage (like casually browsing through ship modules mid-combat to switch boosters off), but for the longest time, be it open space or in the rocks, 1v1 or wing fights, what I see is full FAOff, with permaboosting being the base for setting a new vector every few seconds, with lats/verts/fwd/rev added as minor corrections on top.