Turn off vsync
Or don't. I heard there have been issues with ATI cards and vsync recently, but otherwise, there are no specific reasons to do it, matter of taste.
Otherwise, don't hesitate to crank up ambient lighting all the way to 180-200-ish in some of the darkest missions if you have trouble seeing ships. Again, matter of taste.
Keep in mind, like said on the release post, that -spec_point controls the intensity of glowpoint lighting (among many other things).
If you think shadows are slowing you down, you can change shadow quality with -shadow_quality 0-2, 0 being no shadows.
Enjoy !