On February 26, we announced the VECTOR 787-9. Nearly eight months later, we are now on final approach, deep into internal Beta and entering the final stages of development, with less than three months to touchdown.
Our focus has always been systems depth at what we call schematic level: not simply reproducing what a system does, but how it actually works, communicates and behaves. Just like the real aircraft, down to page and synoptic loading times, the way information is drawn onto the displays, response times, fonts, symbology and display behaviour.
But that philosophy does not stop at the systems. Ultimately, everything comes together in how the aircraft actually flies, moves and feels. The sense of mass, inertia, control response, taxi behaviour, energy management, approach, flare and touchdown are just as important to us as anything happening behind the screens.
A 787 has to feel like a 787, not simply perform like one on paper.
This update is about showing you where the aircraft really is today. We’ll go deeper into the systems, flight dynamics, art, sound, performance, testing and final refinement work now underway, with a focus on the details that define the VECTOR 787 as we move through the final stage of development.
You’ll also find a lot of new screenshots throughout the update, so we strongly recommend opening them full screen and, if your display supports it, viewing them in HDR.
And one important note about the images: no ReShade, custom shaders or DLSS 5 were used for any of the screenshots. What you’re seeing is the aircraft captured in a completely standard simulator environment.
As we get closer to release, the frequency of our official updates will increase significantly, and we’ll make sure to keep you much closer to the development.
As you already know we are going to release the entire 787 series while the 787-9 comes first, followed by the 787-10 and 787-8
If this is your first VECTOR update, join us on Discord and follow the development with us: https://discord.gg/znEdjAQ8HM
Also come and talk about the development update on our forums at: https://forum.vector-sim.com/topic/40-vector-boeing-787-9-development-update-3-8102026/
Without wasting any time, let’s dive into the details…
Development Status
This update touches almost every aspect of the aircraft: systems, flight dynamics, performance, art and modelling, animations, sound, lighting, Look Development, testing and optimization. It is not a short update, but then again, this project has always been about depth.
We are not going to walk through every individual system simply because the list is far too long. Everything in the VECTOR 787 has been built from the ground up, based on our own research, architecture, logic, modelling and implementation.
We expect to reach Content Complete next week, meaning all planned aircraft content and functionality will be in place. At that point, the focus shifts almost entirely to polish, fine-tuning, optimization, validation, testing, flying, testing again and flying again.
In parallel, work continues on the broader product experience, including documentation, tutorials, onboarding material and other supporting content designed to make the VECTOR 787 as complete and accessible as possible from day one.
Systems
The Alpha phase is complete, and we are now deep into internal Beta testing. At this stage, the core aircraft systems are operational and being refined as one interconnected machine. Among many others, this includes the electrical system, hydraulics, fuel system, Airport Moving Map (AMM), Weather Radar, Terrain Radar, TCAS, checklists, maintenance environment and synoptics, all of which are now in place and undergoing final validation.
Increasingly, the focus is on system interaction and edge-case behaviour: how electrical availability affects downstream systems and load shedding, how hydraulic states influence aircraft configuration, how fuel logic responds through different phases of flight, and how all of that information is presented back to the crew through the displays, synoptics, EICAS alerts and maintenance pages.
At this point, our schematic-level approach becomes especially important. We are not only checking that each system works independently, but that the aircraft behaves correctly when those systems interact with, depend on, influence and respond to one another.
Beyond the underlying logic, equal attention is being given to how the aircraft communicates that logic to the crew: response times, page transitions, synoptic drawing times, fonts, symbology, display behaviour and even the small delays present in the real aircraft.
One good example is the Airport Moving Map, which uses Boeing-style symbology and is designed to operate across airports worldwide, whether you are parked at a highly detailed third-party airport or a generic airport from the simulator.
Another is the Weather Radar, which is fully integrated into the aircraft and works as expected whether you are using the simulator’s default weather system or a third-party weather add-on. Terrain and TCAS are similarly deeply integrated into the wider aircraft environment rather than treated as isolated display features.
Boeing Built-In EFB
The Boeing built-in EFB deserves a little more attention because it is not simply another display. It is a complete aircraft system in its own right.
By modern standards, it is a relatively old piece of technology, but that is also part of what makes it so authentic and, frankly, pretty cool to use. Instead of modernising or simplifying it, we chose to reproduce the unit as it actually exists in the aircraft.
Our implementation was built from the ground up, using the original technical documentation for the real EFB as the foundation for its structure, workflows, logic and behaviour, supported by extensive day-to-day validation on the real unit together with our team members and exceptional technical advisors.
In total, the system currently includes 53 pages, covering a wide range of functions such as takeoff and performance calculations, aircraft configuration, warnings and recommendations, charts, navigation tools and other flight-planning aids.
Some of its characteristics may feel unusual compared with modern tablets, and that is entirely intentional. The enroute map, for example, runs at a relatively low visual resolution, exactly as it does in the real aircraft. Certain pages take time to load, some transitions are not instantaneous, and different functions respond at their own pace.
Those limitations are part of the real system, so they are part of ours too.
We are not trying to improve Boeing’s EFB. We are reproducing the one that is actually there.
As with many of the aircraft’s other systems and features, the EFB will also receive its own dedicated video tutorial and documentation, giving users a much deeper look at how it works and how to use it properly.
Continue reading the full post on the Vector Website: https://vector-sim.com/dev-update-3/
