War Thunder Ground Forces came out yesterday, and having War Thunder on my computer I was inclined to play it. For those who don't know, War Thunder is basically World of Tanks biggest competition because it is the only other WWII planes and tanks arcade game (although it has only been a tank game fro a day now). I wanted to give my impressions, so that if you are interested in something different from World of Tanks or wanted to know more about War Thunder. you can find it.

1. the download.
I only mention the download because something stupid happened. I downloaded it, got into the game, and then a window popped up and said "new content available, do you want to download it?" Well, yeah. Why make me enter the game after downloading this shit just so I can immediately leave to download more shit?

2. the graphics.
War Thunder has better graphics than world of tanks. all of the tanks in the game are in HD models, and they all look very good, maybe slightly better than the world of tanks HD model counterparts. it also runs better for me by about ten frames per second on my laptop.

3. the trees.
Once you get into the game and mess around with the menus you'll eventually find your way over to either the German or Russian tank trees (that's all there is right now), and there you will notice one of the first major differences from World of Tanks. In World of Tanks, the T-34 is represented by one vehicle, which supports different modules that account for all the variants in the design. In War Thunder, each variant is a different vehicle.
One the one hand, this diminishes variety, because there are 5 freaking T-34's before you even get to the (first) T-34-85. on the other hand this allows each variant of the T-34 to shine more than in World of Tanks. In world of tanks, most T-34's you'll run into will have the late model turret and 57mm gun, which was a very rare combination. The T-34 that scared the Germans so much was actually the early turret F-34 model, and in War Thunder it gets its chance to shine.
No SPGs here by the way. so there's that.
however, sometimes War Thunder ventures into fantasy land, and when it does it's disappointing, especially when the game seems to be going for a more realistic bent as opposed to World of Tanks. I'm looking at you, king tiger with the 105mm gun. You didn't exist.

4.Gameplay:
Alright. this is where it gets lengthy. first thing you should do when you get the game is set up the controls, then go for a test drive (BTW, test drive is a nice feature). once you start driving you'll notice that every turn plays out like a fast and furious movie, swinging the tail out wide and sliding across the ground. I love tank drifting, so i'm cool with it, but it does come with a definite problem. The tank will take damage from hitting stuff too hard, and sometimes the tanks drifting will knock your tracks off. you have been warned.
And now we get into the biggest change, one that affects nearly every sphere of play and will most likely determine if you will like this game, the damage and penetration model. the penetration model is pretty much exactly like World of Tanks. The damage model however is 'realistic'. when your round hits a tank the game will determine what the round hits inside of the tank and what the spalling hits as well, and damages or destroys these accordingly. If the round hits the ammo well enough, you die. if it kills your crew, you die. if it brews you up and you don't have extinguishers (you unlock these for every tank) you die. One shot kills are entirely possible if the round penetrates, and moreover they are possible at any tier. shoot a Panther in the side with a T-26 and hit its ammo, and it may explode instantly. tanks get knocked out faster and luck plays a bigger role than in World of Tanks.
In World of Tanks, if the round penetrates, you know it will do something, and you know there is a definite point where the enemy will die. In War Thunder that point and that definitive damage doesn't exist. you may shoot and penetrate a tank several times and do minimal damage, and he may shoot and penetrate you once and kill you. If this sounds horrible, it kinda is, but there is another change.
In War Thunder you get every type of tank in your garage in a battle, and multiples of each of those as well, so death is not as big a deal as it is in World of Tanks. If you die early in world of tanks you go back to your garage (and usually i'm a little pissed to). Die early in War Thunder, and there's a chance for redemption.
if you're worried about the game being a campfest, so far it isn't. For when it does however just about every tank can eventually unlock the ability to call in a artillery barrage. it does't work so well (I've only gotten one kill with it), but it will coerce people out of cover.

5.Maps:
World of Tanks has more map variety than War Thunder. Next.

6.Customisation:
War Thunder strangely has camouflage only on some tanks, which is strange to me, but their choice. however, you can put a inscription or decal anywhere you want on the tank, and War Thunder also supports a easy to use and official custom skins website, so I guess it's better in terms of this.

7.the end.
If someone asked me if war thunder is better than World of Tanks, all I would say is that it's different. world of tanks to me seems to require more skill, whereas in War Thunder luck plays a much larger role. War Thunder is fun, it allows me to just spam soviet tanks in true soviet fashion and earn a glorious victory at the cost of only 7 tanks. however, if you are more interested in competitive play where it is a battle of skill, wits, and playing your tanks strengths against their weaknesses, World of Tanks is the better game.

If you have any questions about any of this or anything on War Thunder, feel free to ask.

3284802 I agree with you. The games are just different, neither one is technically "superior" over the other. Each game has its own strengths and weaknesses, and both are fun to play.

3290246
As of now I'm playing War Thunder more, based solely on the fact that it runs better

3290354 Really? I get better frames in WoT for some reason. I'm going to guess the graphics is why.

3291832
I play on a laptop, and for whatever reason War Thunder is the better optimized one.

I did have a thought though concerning the two games. In War Thunder you get a lot more small moments ( like one shotting two tanks in a row which is fun), but you really don't get the big moments like in World of Tanks. Stuff when it's you and maybe two other guys facing off against 8, or getting a Radley-Walters medal. That just doesn't happen in War Thunder.

3292329 I also play on a laptop.

Yeah, you can't really pull of going alone against 5 or more tanks in Warthunder.