It sucks I'm one of the very few people that loved the big empty worlds of ME1. I wish theyd throw some in there, makes the galaxy more realistic.
And it was compelling to drive over this entire useless world and finding like one artifact, that felt like you are the only one to ever find it. I DUNNO
I know that feel bro. Unfortunately heavy use of empty space is so aggressively criticised that it's default "bad" for some people. I love my stretches of nothingness.
I know man. You can't have that anymore in mainstream games because a big chunk of the audience doesn't like traversal for the sake of mood and atmosphere. Part of me is still hoping for it in Andromeda but it's gonna come with a lot of bar-filling.
I suggest you try out Elite Dangerous or Space Engine for your realistic-scale space exploration fix.