6 hours ago, jon b said:

Watched Napoleon Dynamite too many times 😂 plus it’s about the only suitable word you can get through the “ word not allowed “ filter.

“Chu££in” would have been my first choice 😁

Chu££in brilliant! 😆

47 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

Vector also obviously seem further along in development than the usual "let's-show-a-3D-model-and-announce" mode some other projects have started off with and disappointingly went nowhere (especially given what I'm reading on their discord, i.e. them doing daily test flights for a while already, etc). They also seem far along enough to have a presence at the upcoming FSWeekend show.

Yes, if they’ve announced a 2026 release it’s already very well developed I’d suggest.

The 787 is so complex you couldn’t just start building one and say it’ll be ready in 10 months.

I found the exact Discord quote where somebody asked if it was VATSIM capable and Ellie from Vector responded, "100% yes! Already is actually":

When asked to clarify what VATSIM capable meant, Ellie then responded:

If it is VATSIM capable, then it seems like the project could be in the advanced stages.

Having said that, the default 787, last worked on by Working Title, is also VATSIM capable. And I think all the derivatives based off the default 787, the Kuro and Horizon Simulations 787, are also VATSIM capable. So Vector would need to offer something significantly better than the default 787. But I assume it should be much more advanced than the default 787 and also the Kuro and Horizon Simulations mods, or else what is the point of the product.

Finally, one more interesting thing I found in their FAQ section, Vector claims to have 20+ people on their team:

I'm not sure of the typical team sizes for MSFS add-ons, but I would think that is a pretty significant size for their team.

Edited February 27Feb 27 by abrams_tank

WT have done an excellent job on the displays, the colours and fonts look spot on. There’s a few bugs, things like the VSD scaling but overall they’ve really done a great job in replicating the real world displays.

The HUD is also first class in its appearance and motion.

Likewise it’s IAN and RNAV approaches are really good.

The rest sadly, which is just the inherited default aircraft so no discredit to WT, is pretty awful. The flight model is all over the place with some horrendous pitch attitudes in the climb. And major issues like FLCH SPD commanding idle thrust in the climb and climb thrust in the descent, completely 180 degrees out of reality.

 

@Vector Studio God speed to you...🙂...

 

20 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

P_7878 is going to be rather excited by this announcement, although he may have to change his name to P_7879 

Thank you, @Christopher Low. 

The image of one of the first few 787-8s in the fresh ANA Paint, emerging out of those huge doors in the Boeing Everett Factory will be always etched in my mind. I forget if the doors had the mural of a 787 or 748 ...So, when our tour bus was pulling into the parking lot, I named my alter ego...🙂...also later picked up a coffee mug from the gift shop, with a Dreamliner picture on it, that's still around being used as a Pen/Pencil holder by my youngsters.

I recall one of the 787s inside the factory was going through some kind of wheels-up engine test, as we watched from the overhead balcony.

@Christopher Low, it was ~5 years wait for the QW 787, and it has been already ~5 years since I have been hoping for one in MSFS, but we'll see how it stands up to the (high) standards of @jon b...

17 minutes ago, P_7878 said:

@Vector Studio God speed to you...🙂...

 

Thank you, @Christopher Low. 

The image of one of the first few 787-8s in the fresh ANA Paint, emerging out of those huge doors in the Boeing Everett Factory will be always etched in my mind. I forget if the doors had the mural of a 787 or 748 ...So, when our tour bus was pulling into the parking lot, I named my alter ego...🙂...also later picked up a coffee mug from the gift shop, with a Dreamliner picture on it, that's still around being used as a Pen/Pencil holder by my youngsters.

I recall one of the 787s inside the factory was going through some kind of wheels-up engine test, as we watched from the overhead balcony.

@Christopher Low, it was ~5 years wait for the QW 787, and it has been already ~5 years since I have been hoping for one in MSFS, but we'll see how it stands up to the (high) standards of @jon b...

I too have a 787 coffee mug gifted by someone in the Aviation industry. I've never drank anything out of it to date 🙂

19 hours ago, SayAgain said:

A simulated version with more depth than what MS/Asobo provide is most welcome … thank you and looking forward to it.

Too bad the MS/Asobo model can't be upgraded I mean so much is already there, or so it seems.  But maybe, like remodeling a home, it's more difficult than starting from scratch.  It's been a while but I enjoyed the MS/A model for many months to a few years.

22 hours ago, Wise87 said:

Interesting. I'm always cautious when new dev groups appear and try not to get overly excited. Devs like Aerodynamic's, Bluebird and Synaptic Sim come to mind. Still waiting, but hopeful.

Wishing you the best. We deeply need a 787.

I remember when Fenix were the new kids on the block...... that didn't work out too badly

25 minutes ago, Joshua757 said:

I too have a 787 coffee mug gifted by someone in the Aviation industry. I've never drank anything out of it to date 🙂

First of all, @Joshua757, what are you doing here around a shiny (modern age) Dreamliner...🙂...?

Shouldn't you be flying some favorite old classic jetliners, with (state-of-the-art-of the-time) steam gauges ...?

[Note: I love steam-gauge based airliners.]

4 minutes ago, P_7878 said:

First of all, @Joshua757, what are you doing here around a shiny (modern age) Dreamliner...🙂...?

Shouldn't you be flying some favorite old classic jetliners, with (state-of-the-art-of the-time) steam gauges ...?

[Note: I love steam-gauge based airliners.]

Hahaha. You got me sneaking around in areas I shouldn't  😎 Infact, I'm going live in an A300B4 analogue cockpit today:)

 

https://youtu.be/G9dlTQ_xiZs?si=QtzokG_S_PR9olKf

 

 

Some notes and quotes from their Discord so far that were noteworthy to me. The one responding is the studio lead. Again, this is just a summary of the discord so take it for FWIW 🙂

• in development for over a year
• 20+ developers on the team, with some active 787 pilots
  • "This is an experienced team that have made many aircraft for FS20, FS24 and other sims. A lot of aircraft most people fly in FS20 and FS24 I have been involved in, as have a lot of the dev team"
  • "Me personally, DCS World, P3D, Flight Sim World, FS20 and FS24. In the past 3 years over 23 aircraft small and big in FS20 and FS24 from the Jenny, Goose, Red Bull, Mustangs up to Airbus"
  • "I've been developing since 2005"
  • "Most of the dev team are simmers, I've been simming since 1987. It's a bold statement we stand by."
  • "We get it guys, new studio no one has heard of before. We've been very silently working and waiting up to today to reveal, for reasons. More details will come"
  • re: doubts about first project: "100% understandable and only the product will show you that. We do stand by it"
  • re: why they are different: "I am sure in the Q&A at FSWeekend, FSElite will ask me the same question. They know me, they know what I've worked on. You guys may not and that's absolutely fine of course. Just in the last 6 years I've worked for some of the top companies in flight sim and worked on some very unique and challenging aircraft, as have our team. And honestly I can give you a list of everything I've managed in that time. However the aircraft will speak for itself and we will prove it over time"
• EFB will be Boeing one , and extra tablet for sim options
  • "We will have both. The Boeing EFB and a tablet for other options"
• MSFS dev framework being used: WASM
  • "it gives us greater flexibility than js and we chose it for another reason that will be revealed in the future"
  • "Are we planning for constant wasm crashes, of course not. We rigorously test every phase of flight and the dev team hate me as I'm the worst tester! I swill spam buttons, switch pages as fast as I can to try and break things"
  • "This is the key statement here. When you plan, design and write code from the bottom up, not using something that's written before that "may work" that's when wasm does it's job well."
    • my take: this might be a reference to devs who brought over pre-existing C/C++ code from older sims and then ported to MSFS using the WASM framework 🙂 
• "We have a very well thought out information release plan and won't be pressured into showing anything when we are not ready to"
• "Very deep systems level. I don't personally like the term "study level" because what does that actually mean (means different things to different people and developers). We will be revealing how deep in a future insight"
• "I'll just say the flight manual pages will be very long and very detailed"
• no ex-QualityWings devs on the team
• VATSIM capable, already is
  • "I want to fly her in VATSIM, as realistic as possible, that should tell you the standard"
• "I'm gonna be honest, the % never stays the same as we add things to the list and we will not comit to a "oh we're % done YAY" thing"
• re: how many IRL 787 pilots: "I'm not going to commit to an actual number because we are in discussions with more, "a few" active 787 pilots and other Boeing fleet pilots are on the team"
• re: GSX compatibility etc: "Sole focus right now and yes we are looking at 3rd party apps for integration which has beeen designed in mind from day 1 planning"
• "It's being built from the ground up - art, systems, FMC, FM, AFDS, sounds, Etc. and tailored to FS24 which is much more powerful than the older sims."
• options for using MSFS 2024 LIDO charts, Navigraph, etc
   

Edited February 27Feb 27 by lwt1971

2 hours ago, JYW said:

Chu££in brilliant! 😆

Blimey!

15 minutes ago, lwt1971 said:

Some notes and quotes from their Discord so far that were noteworthy to me. The one responding is the studio lead. Again, this is just a summary of the discord and take it for FWIW 🙂

• in development for over a year
• 20+ developers on the team, with some active 787 pilots
  • "This is an experienced team that have made many aircraft for FS20, FS24 and other sims. A lot of aircraft most people fly in FS20 and FS24 I have been involved in, as have a lot of the dev team"
  • "Me personally, DCS World, P3D, Flight Sim World, FS20 and FS24. In the past 3 years over 23 aircraft small and big in FS20 and FS24 from the Jenny, Goose, Red Bull, Mustangs up to Airbus"
  • "I've been developing since 2005"
  • "Most of the dev team are simmers, I've been simming since 1987. It's a bold statement we stand by."
  • "We get it guys, new studio no one has heard of before. We've been very silently working and waiting up to today to reveal, for reasons. More details will come"
  • re: doubts about first project: "100% understandable and only the product will show you that. We do stand by it"
  • re: why they are different: "I am sure in the Q&A at FSWeekend, FSElite will ask me the same question. They know me, they know what I've worked on. You guys may not and that's absolutely fine of course. Just in the last 6 years I've worked for some of the top companies in flight sim and worked on some very unique and challenging aircraft, as have our team. And honestly I can give you a list of everything I've managed in that time. However the aircraft will speak for itself and we will prove it over time"
• EFB will be Boeing one , and extra tablet for sim options
  • "We will have both. The Boeing EFB and a tablet for other options"
• MSFS dev framework being used: WASM
  • "it gives us greater flexibility than js and we chose it for another reason that will be revealed in the future"
  • "Are we planning for constant wasm crashes, of course not. We rigorously test every phase of flight and the dev team hate me as I'm the worst tester! I swill spam buttons, switch pages as fast as I can to try and break things"
  • "This is the key statement here. When you plan, design and write code from the bottom up, not using something that's written before that "may work" that's when wasm does it's job well."
    • my take: this might be a reference to devs who brought over pre-existing C/C++ code from older sims and then ported to MSFS using the WASM framework 🙂 
• "We have a very well thought out information release plan and won't be pressured into showing anything when we are not ready to"
• "Very deep systems level. I don't personally like the term "study level" because what does that actually mean (means different things to different people and developers). We will be revealing how deep in a future insight"
• "I'll just say the flight manual pages will be very long and very detailed"
• no ex-QualityWings devs on the team
• VATSIM capable, already is
  • "I want to fly her in VATSIM, as realistic as possible, that should tell you the standard"
• "I'm gonna be honest, the % never stays the same as we add things to the list and we will not comit to a "oh we're % done YAY" thing"
• re: how many IRL 787 pilots: "I'm not going to commit to an actual number because we are in discussions with more, "a few" active 787 pilots and other Boeing fleet pilots are on the team"
• re: GSX compatibility etc: "Sole focus right now and yes we are looking at 3rd party apps for integration which has beeen designed in mind from day 1 planning"
• "It's being built from the ground up - art, systems, FMC, FM, AFDS, sounds, Etc. and tailored to FS24 which is much more powerful than the older sims."
• options for using MSFS 2024 LIDO charts, Navigraph, etc
   

From everything that is written, it sounds like a professional developer that made other planes for MSFS (and even other planes for DCS World, P3D, etc), that went out and started their own company. Something similar to the story of Lefteris, who was developing at PMDG, before he went on to found FSLabs.  If this is the actual background of the person and their experience, I think there is a good chance this 787 will go to completion, because this person has been a part of many other commercial projects that were eventually released.

I don't think it's the case of an inexperienced developer, who had never completed a single complex plane for a flight simulator before, and then goes and announces a major project where they don't know the complexities involved.  It appears to be the case of an experienced developer, who has done it before, and they know exactly the work and team needed, to tackle a complex project like a high fidelity 787.

Edited February 27Feb 27 by abrams_tank

Time will tell, I'll hedge my bets until more detail comes to hand.

Very exciting news.

The aircraft must be pretty far into development if it's set to release this year.