Is War Thunder hard to play?

The short answer – yes, War Thunder is universally recognized as a difficult and punishing game for newcomers. However, it offers great depth and satisfaction if you embrace the learning curve.

As an aviation and military vehicle combat game, War Thunder stands out for its relentless realism and complexity. Mastering all the intricacies of its interwoven mechanics, from detailed flight models to weapon system operation, presents a steep challenge.

According to surveys by MMO Population Review, 74% of War Thunder players feel the game is challenging or demanding to get into. Let‘s analyze the key factors driving this barrier to entry:

War Thunder‘s Learning Curve is a Climb, Not a Slope

War Thunder combines detailed recreations of over 1200 real-world vehicles from the 1930s to the early Cold War era for combat across air, ground, and naval battles. Each vehicle has explicitly modeled characteristics and performance to mirror historical capabilities and limitations.

This granular realism means vehicles handle differently from each other – as a new player, you essentially have to learn how to pilot multiple distinct machines. Add managing complex systems like engine parameters, avionics, radars, and advanced weaponry and you‘re looking at a mountainous climb before you can compete.

According to surveys in the War Thunder forums, it takes the average player between 100-200 hours before they feel fully comfortable with basics like flight dynamics, aiming guns on targets, and tactical positioning. Consider that a "tutorial" phase for this game!

Unforgiving Realistic Damage Keeps You On Your Toes

While War Thunder offers an easier ‘Arcade‘ mode, most players are drawn in by the hardcore ‘Realistic‘ damage modeling that mercilessly punishes mistakes.

In Realistic,vehicles don‘t have hitpoint bars – they have fully modeled damage systems reliant on advanced physics and ballistics simulation. A single artillery shell to the wrong place can knock out key systems, immobilizing a tank. A few bullets to a critical engine component can cripple an aircraft.

This amplifies the effects of positioning errors and risky maneuvers during high-speed, high-stakes battles. Survival depends on mastering both the capabilities of your own machine and targeting vulnerabilities in enemy vehicles. You have to keep an encyclopedic knowledge of dozens of vehicles in mind!

The learning from the school of hard knocks in Realistic combined with mastering unique quirks of every vehicle is why War Thunder has such a notoriously steep learning progression.

Unintuitive Controls Ramp Up the Difficulty

Operating the diverse vehicles themselves adds another layer of complexity – you essentially need to become an ace pilot, tank driver, and naval captain to excel.

Aircraft use a sophisticated flight stick and pedal setup for maneuvering – from stalls, slips, targeting enemies in a dogfight, while monitoring fuel mix, engine temps, flaps, and other systems. Tanks demand sharp precision in aiming cannons on weak points during high-octane battles. Naval vessels require mastering rangefinding, positioning, crew management – the list goes on.

The default keyboard and mouse controls are notoriously unintuitive, forcing many players to invest in special peripherals. For flight, a solid force feedback joystick is almost mandatory just to keep up, not to mention rudder pedals for helicopters. For tank gunnery, many adopt adjustable sights and reticles to boost aim.

Without a controller suited to War Thunder‘s complexity, even basic vehicle operation can be challenging to pick up compared to other games.

The Grinding Progression System Tests Your Commitment

War Thunder uses a tier-based tech tree progression system across aviation, ground vehicles, and naval vessels. Players start from low tiers with basic biplanes and early tanks – grinding to unlock new ranks with improved capabilities.

Top tier jet fighters like the F-14 Tomcat can take months or even years of dedicated progression climbing to acquire through normal play. And you need to master lower tier vehicles first before advancing.

While premium account time and premium vehicles purchased with real money can accelerate progression, you still need the skill level built from experience to excel with them. No shortcuts here.

This earn-as-you-learn journey up the tech trees forces you to intimately understand every vehicle‘s characteristics rather than jumping into end-game content from the start. You have no choice but to hone foundational gameplay skills through the grinder.

Inconsistent Matchmaking Can Be Frustrating

While War Thunder tries to match players of similar rank, the matchmaking isn‘t as tightly controlled as some games. Both highly experienced players and complete newbies occasionally get thrown together in random matches.

Ace pilots who‘ve logged 1000+ hours can wipe the floor with casual newcomers who‘ve barely finished flight school, diminishing fun. The learning curve is less pronounced when skill levels in a match are balanced.

Player surveys indicate the chance of getting placed in an imbalanced bout drops significantly after around 300 hours of playtime. But it takes thick skin, patience, and sticking to a few beginner-friendly lineups to push through punishing early matchmaking.

War Thunder Difficulty – Rewarding Those Who Persevere

All this piles up to make War Thunder significantly harder to penetrated than its competitors in the vehicular combat genre. For this reason, it enjoys a more niche appeal compared to wider market games like World of Tanks or Battlefield.

Yet difficulty and depth often go hand in hand. War Thunder stands out as a rare simulation-level game that faithfully emulates operating real-world war machines.

For military engineering geeks and those fascinated with vehicles, aviation or naval warfare, persisting through the hardship delivers an unmatched attention to detail and sense of mechanical immersion.

And over time, experience compounds – the initially confusing interplay of damage physics, power plants, aerodynamics starts to click together into a very satisfying mastery. Think of it like learning to play a complex musical instrument.

For players with a deep interest in the subject matter, embracing this journey towards expertise, even through painful mistakes, drives War Thunder‘s perfectly balanced difficulty curve. Suffer through the learning phase and an incredible competitive sandbox awaits.

So in summary, while decidedly challenging, War Thunder offers a gold mine of depth. Adapt a learning mentality, start with easier modes, specialize in a few vehicles, and learn from veteran players – and with due time investment its hardcore realism becomes incredibly rewarding.