In terms of the esc key, from my experiences with games usually the main menu screens (for save, load, settings etc) are accessible when you are not in an in-game menu so it's quite a common solution. That way you just need to double tap esc to access the main menu from the datapad which is less cumbersome.
In terms of the datapad navigation, I would like to suggest an auto-walk feature, something like double tap W or W + Caps Lock, and you'll just walk in a straight line. Like you said, when you're viewing the datapad you're not too bothered about movement but you want to save time by multitasking. Since the landscape is so large and usually you won't be running and wasting oxygen while using the datapad, so I suspect players will close the datapad before the hit anything or reach any cliffs. Besides, they can always use the map to navigate and use the mouse to steer.
Thanks for your reply Tyler!
In terms of the esc key, from my experiences with games usually the main menu screens (for save, load, settings etc) are accessible when you are not in an in-game menu so it's quite a common solution. That way you just need to double tap esc to access the main menu from the datapad which is less cumbersome.
In terms of the datapad navigation, I would like to suggest an auto-walk feature, something like double tap W or W + Caps Lock, and you'll just walk in a straight line. Like you said, when you're viewing the datapad you're not too bothered about movement but you want to save time by multitasking. Since the landscape is so large and usually you won't be running and wasting oxygen while using the datapad, so I suspect players will close the datapad before the hit anything or reach any cliffs. Besides, they can always use the map to navigate and use the mouse to steer.
Hope these are useful.