War Thunder: the complete guide to gaming's biggest vehicle sandbox
Planes, tanks and warships in one war. How War Thunder's three difficulty modes work, which nation to start with, and how to avoid the grind trap — free on PC and Mac.
Free to Play · War ThunderPlay War Thunder free on PC▶ Enter the ArenaWar Thunder is the rare free-to-play game that is genuinely hard to describe, because it is three games wearing one coat: an air combat sim, a tank game, and a naval game — all sharing one map, one economy and one set of tech trees. This hub explains how it actually works before you sink a weekend into it.
The one thing to understand first: game modes
Almost every bad first impression of War Thunder comes from starting in the wrong mode. There are three, and they are not difficulty sliders — they change the game completely.
- Arcade — forgiving flight model, aim assist, visible enemy markers. This is the mode to learn in. Matches are fast and you will not be punished for not knowing what a fuel mixture is.
- Realistic — no markers, real flight physics, one life per match. Slower, tenser, and where most of the long-term community lives.
- Simulator — cockpit view only, full control fidelity, often needs a joystick. Extremely rewarding, extremely niche.
Start in Arcade. Move to Realistic when losing a match stops feeling random and starts feeling like your fault.
— Alex Carter
Free to Play · War ThunderPlay War Thunder free on PC▶ Enter the ArenaWhich nation should you pick?
You unlock vehicles along national tech trees, and your first choice matters more than the game tells you. A few honest starting points:
- USA or Germany — the most complete trees at every tier and the most guides written about them. The safe first pick.
- USSR — forgiving tanks with strong armour at low tiers, which flatters new ground players.
- Japan or Britain — excellent aircraft, thinner ground options early. Pick these if you know you want to fly.
You are not locked in — you can research any nation later. But spreading yourself across four trees at once is the single most common way new players stall out.
The grind, honestly
War Thunder is free, and the low and mid tiers are genuinely generous — you will get dozens of hours before the economy starts to bite. Higher tiers slow down considerably, and repair costs on top-tier vehicles are real. The healthy way to play: stay at the tier you enjoy rather than rushing to the top, because the top is where the grind lives.
Can your machine run it?
This is one of the better-optimised games in the catalogue. It scales down a long way — older laptops can hold a playable frame rate at low settings — and it runs on both Windows and Mac, which is rare here. If you are on a Mac, this is very likely the only game on this site you can play natively.
Who it's for
- Anyone who likes military hardware and wants depth without paying up front.
- Players who want one game that can last years rather than a weekend.
- Mac players — a genuinely rare native option.
If you want the same era with infantry instead of vehicles, look at our Enlisted guide — same publisher, very different game.
War Thunder asks for patience and pays it back with a level of detail almost nothing else in free-to-play matches. It costs nothing to find out whether that trade suits you.
