Feedback is how we make it better, so always welcome.
There are a couple things that we decided were a bit out of scope, like some hydraulics systems effects (though most of the synoptic symbology should be right for normal ops), but in all we would be surprised to learn that stuff was missing in normal ops type situations. So certainly always welcome any feedback.
HUD symbology is still too thick, like itās all in bold
The switches on the overhead panel are not in the typical position they would be after the previous crew shut the aircraft down
No VSD
Some of the cursor controls donāt work meaning you have to push buttons on the screen
There are always 3 GPUās plugged in which isnāt realistic. You would only ever have a 3rd one attached to start an engine with a U/S APU.
As I said though, perhaps Iāve been unfair. Iāll take a more in-depth look as soon as I get chance.
Edited to add - I am being unfair. Iāll hold my hands up. Iām unfairly expecting PMDG levels of fidelity from an included aircraft which isnāt realistic. I know that. Iām probably just grumpy that weāre getting loads of aircraft for this sim but no-one has taken on the 787, or seemingly the 350 either. A real shame.
At least for this one, this is where the combination of various pilots with different operators landed. We could always tweak this as we get more operator feedback.
Right now the sim has no available horizontal terrain graphics API so we opted not to devote dev resources to the VSD for this release, since the equivalent data is available on other FMC screens. We would like to bring that some time in the future, though.
Similar with the screen interaction knobs, theyāre so finicky to use in a sim that for the time being we felt attention was better used on dialing in things the like AP modes and the very complex VNAV behavior.
For the GPUs, we are aware of that but the sim doesnāt really have any more than one GPU. For now we opted to allow the pilot to use any of the external power buttons based on their preference. Not totally realistic, but the other two options were to have it randomly choose one to be AVAIL, or always choose the same one. We felt neither of those would necessarily be super compatible with external ground crew add-ons, though. These types of decisions are always a tricky compromise.
I think cutting the rates would make the plane much more flyable in this simulator. Nobody has a gigantic Boeing Yoke (well, maybe a few people have retrofitted one). The thing is, the keybind for the trim switch simply sends a single event āincreaseā, or ādecreaseā trim. It doesnāt care what your stick is. Iāve already accepted the pitchiness, but the trim is extremely frustrating.
Just try following the flight director circle with the bird on the HUD after takeoff on the PMDG 737, then the 787. The 737 works well enough, you hold your trim switch down for a while, and can dial it in quite nicely. The 787 is like āone touch, overshootā, āone touch the other way, and go under the target againā. . you get the idea. Itās nowhere near as bad as the AN-225, but itās pretty tough to trim it in present state.
We can certainly take a other look to doublecheck there that a bug didnāt get introduced, but right now it it should be that the rate of change of trim speed with the trim held down is matching the manufacturer provided documentation (in other words, the trim moment action per unit time).
Just on this, the trim in the 787 works in a totally different way to the 737 and it does take some getting used to.
In the 73 youāre literally trimming away an aerodynamic load and, as youāre physically connected to the flying controls, itās quite straightforward to feel when that load is trimmed out.
In the 787 however, obviously the whole flight control system is fly-by-wire. The trim system actually trims to the aircraft speed and it does so kinda automatically. The technique is to trim until youāre in the right ball-park (which you almost always are) then āblipā the trim switch and the flight control system automatically sets the trim for the aircraft speed.
In a nutshell, big changes in trim and lengthly operation of the trim switches (like you would see on the 737) are not necessary, and instead you are effectively telling the system that you want to trim to your current speed. Think of it more like fine tuning.
And as typerated 787 pilot you are happy with handflying at takeoff and approach? It does not feel too light and too responsive? Does it feel like that? I cannot believe, that for example 250.000 kg behave that agile on takeoff.
When touching the runway with rear wheels the front comes down immediately even with still holding the stick back.
Iād have to fly it which I havenāt done as yet. Twitchiness on the controls is something that blights all aircraft in the sim in my opinion, but as far as the 787 goes the flight control system is designed to make it feel very similar at all weights. You certainly donāt get the same feedback with it as you would a 737 for example.
The landing behaviour does sound realistic, although if you are applying aft elevator you should be able to fly the nosewheel on to the runway. If you let go when the main gear touches down youād know about it. The behaviour is really exacerbated in our Cat D sim, it can be quite brutal sometimes!
In my opinion it feels great and is fun to fly. Suddenly the MSFS de Lux package seems to give more value for the money! I have some minor issues though:
The green text/numbers on the PFD is very hard to read, the contrast is a bit to low for at least my eyes.
I have a problem with the throttle leavers, when taxiing I always accidently activate the reversers. There is no distinct detent between forward and reverse. Is it possible to configure so that reverse is only activated if you press toggle reverse thrust or whatever that button is called?
I did a first flight today with the 787, never used it every before. The avionics are great, well done to MS/Asobo but especially the Working Title team.
However, I personally think there are still too many knobs that are inop in the cockpit. For me that takes away from the immersiveness I prefer. So hopefully these are things that will be added in the future, or by some mod.