Thanks for the feedback!
We found that adding friction made players slow down and play carefully, which took away from the intensity of the beginning of a fight. However if we had more time we would have created some systems to help with turning the player around, such as applying friction while moving or something similar.
Those moments of watching your team win after you had already died were a big focus of our efforts, if you look closely while spectating another ship you will notice that whatever ship you are currently spectating has increased speed and firerate.