Likely not. Their primary source of income is in the professional side of things for the purpose of certification trainers used by big airliner companies and the like
After Virpil finishes the AH-64 collective grip the next thing they could improve upon is the CM3 throttle, or their pedals in some way. They just recently updated both of their flight stick bases to new adjustable ones so unlikely to see yet another base from them anytime soon. Collectives in general are already very new from Vipril so an updated one of those is also unlikely. Their pedals and throttle have been around for a while though, and they already recently added a new control panel to go with the collective.
Unless they want to make cyclic grips or something.
Winwing is more likely simply because they currently have a reputation of surprising us simmers with what they have in store. The F18 front panels for example, the force sensing base, and the F16 grip/throttle plus the new throttle to replace the old one have all exceeded expectations again and again.
I don't see Virpil releasing a new throttle this year, but I'd really like to see one next year at least. I'm particularly keen to see more about WinWing's throttle replacement, as that might be much more appealing to me, albeit also far more expensive.
I've been very tempted by the Taurus since the start, but that was during thw height of covid and fedex shipping to me was $200 and I get 25% tax on top of that as well. And my only real gain would be longer throw and detents.
I get that with this as well, but working, genuine ffb for a stick gimbal is worth the value IMO.
The tease of their new throttle is vague enough it could be anything. It would be cool if it was FFB, and it isn't impossible given how expectation exceeding their stuff has been lately. But we just don't know. A lot of people seem to think it is an F-15E grip based throttle. I'm sure WW will show us in due time. I just hope it is similar in features and quality and price to the original Taurus to the point of making sense to get. Will it be a justified upgrade over Taurus for existing owners? Probably not unless FFB or some other game changing feature. But for people like me with a Virpil CM2? If Virpil or VKB don't have anything better anytime soon, absolutely.
A motorized throttle would be much easier to build, compared to a flightstick. It would require less force and would make it possible to have software controlled detents and gates, customized to each aircraft you want to fly⦠And, of course, Autothrottle.
Walmis is eyeballing a set of MFG Crosswinds once they're available again in June, to look into the possibility of adding FFB to the rudder pedals. That's something I absolutely want. I was already considering MFG Crosswinds to upgrade from my CH Products Pro pedals, and ability to add FFB with a kit I simply install and hook up to my pc is a no brainer.
Yeah I'd definitely prefer it stay under the 800 threshold USA has for imports and tariffs on products that pass through China. Would be much more affordable that way.
pedals might be a challenge, though, legs tend to be quite strong things requireing lots of force and there's a number of rather important planes notorious for requiring constant rudder input
I know one limiting factor is walmis doesn't have rudder support available in the Rhino software currently. Which would be another benefit to him fiddling with the Crosswinds.
if you search through #support or #knowledge-base you can see what is currently supported in the rhino software, if that is what you mean. I don't think there is any documentation here in the server with a template to follow for a throttle assembly
at current rate of around 20 units per month, probably well over a year. walmis has expressed interest in somehow expanding operations to increase production, but I doubt it would be anytime soon, or at a scale that would allow all orders to be fulfilled before the year is over.
I got my Rhino in today. It was held up in Memphis for "animal or animal parts permit" They saw it was a rare Lithuanian Rhinoceros and Walmis had to email them to confirm they aren't "endangered"! All good...
ββ¦what is this?β βI dunno, what does it say on the box?β βSays βRhinoββ βGuess itβs a rhino thenβ ββ¦alright, if you say soβ
With it i can simply unhook the main spring and have non centering pedals for heli use, while still remaining stable. For jets just pop the spring back on.