EVE is 3rd person roll & dice, point & click RTS style controls, with empire building and almost fully player driven world. It's totally different from Elite.
Mechanics, yes. On the other hand, you still get to trade, fight, take care of your standing with various alliances, explore. So, it's both the same and different. I just never got the same sense of exploration in EVE as I did with Elite(s).
Wormholes, man. Wormholes. It's still not the same, of course - a game where you don't really "fly" your ship, like EVE, is never going to be immersive in the same way an Elite game is - but it's damned addictive in its way.