One of the lasting and recurring images in Star Wars and ESB is the image of the friends in the Falcon cockpit.

The Falcon reflects Lucas' youth cruising around in cars with his friends.

I believe this will be crucial in re-establishing that same closeness to the characters and building credible friendships between the characters.

The Falcon, hopefully, is being brought back for more than mere fan service; but as a method for creating that same air of both friendship and commonality of purpose between the characters.

Furthermore, I believe those scenes really build the notion that these people are on a journey...like a road trip. Pile into the old beater, barely prepared and take a road trip, get lost, get into a few scuffles before making it to your destination.

The journey was an important Joseph Campbell mythological facet as we all know by now. The OT and to some extent, ROTJ, ended that. There were battles but no journeys anymore. Just cutting from one planet to the next.

A Star Wars movie without that iconic interior front view of the Falcon cockpit is like a Star Trek film with no Enterprise deck scene.