[WalterBright]

There is nothing wrong with making an airplane behave like the previous version. In fact, it enhances safety, as pilots can and do make errors when under stress they do the right thing for the wrong airplane. Making airplanes predictable and consistent with existing training is a safety enhancing practice.

I worked on the 757 design, which was designed concurrently with the 767. A lot of effort was made to make them behave in a common manner, even though they were quite different airplanes. This makes perfect sense.

It's the same reason the steering wheel and pedals on your car are laid out the same and do the same things across nearly all very diverse cars. And yes, carmakers adjust the handling characteristics to be predictable and not need the drivers to have additional training.