That's always been the argument for/against "pay-to-win", though. Unless the game has items that specifically give an in-game advantage and are ONLY obtainable via real currency (not in-game), the argument is made that it's not "pay-to-win".
I care more about how much time and effort it would take me to earn the items using in-game currency. In the case of Star Citizen, given the price of the ships, I have to assume the grind would be tremendous.
it would also depend on if it feels like a grind, or if it feels like a more natural progression or evolution of progress.