I completely agree with the first point. I watched a couple of my friends play the game after I had published and they were suggesting hold controls as well. To tell you the truth, I just don't know how to program those using the new Unity Input System. It's on the bucket list of things I want to learn, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I just have a boolean that says "thrusterOn" or "thrusterOff", which was easy to implement in the game.
I also really like what you said about "putting gameplay over accurate physics". Again I agree with you. Not only are the controls subject for improvement, but also the physics are odd at times (both Left and Right thrusters on for example). In the future I will tune these elements more tightly, especially since they are the core mechanic of the game.
Thanks for the feedback :)