What if I told you that controller was not as bad as you thought it was? I'm kind of nervous. Now full disclaimer, at heart, I am an elitist, and of course I stand for the PC Master Race.
With that being said, I've had the opportunity to play with somebody that has within the 2-3,000 hour mark in War Thunder, and is playing with the controller on the PlayStation. Now here's the part where you're just gonna have to play with the controller on the PlayStation. to trust me.
I have 7,000 hours in War Thunder and I've been playing the game since 2013. I'm not claiming to be the best War Thunder player, but I'm usually able to hold my own. Why is this important you might ask? Well I've set up a scenario where he gets to dogfight me through all the different ranks in War Thunder and that there is potential to be somewhat competitive on controller. And truthfully I'm the first person to give him shit, but what you're about to see may surprise you.
Okay, so here's the test. We've picked one plane for each rank in the American Tech Tree, and then we commit to a best out of three 1v1 dogfight, where the rules are no shooting on the first merge, and no shooting if we're heads up on one another, just to see who can pull the advantage and get the kill in a 1v1 scenario. While this clearly doesn't go over all the extra variables of actually playing a real match in-game, I still think it'll do a good job at showcasing how much control that he has over his plane, and the fact that he's not just a sitting duck because he's on controller. Now for the plane lineup. At rank 1, we have the F-3F, which is a biplane, and biplane flights are quite chaotic, so it'll be a good showcase of how fast he can react.
For tier 2, we have the P-400, which is a good example of a prop that is quite underpowered, as the lower tier props tend to be. And for rank 3, we have the American P-51 Mustang with the British 20mm cannons. It's actually a great all-around plane, and Diego actually swears by this one. For tier We went and got the F7F as a bit of a heavier fighter, just to kind of showcase what it would look like fighting against each other in a plane that is not typically maneuverable, but once again, we are flying the same planes against each other.
For our rank 5, we will be using the F-86 Saver, and as far as non-after- burning jets go this one's pretty right down the middle and it's really good it is a very fun plane to fly and master next up we have the f3h demon and the thing's a bit of a dorito and likes to kind of cast its energy out definitely a unique flight model and i figured a fun one to throw in the mix Next up, this is a little bit of an asymmetrical matchup, but I have the F4J and he has the F4S. I will say, I did kind of learn that they are not even, but it's a good showcase to show that there's not a huge difference in between both of us, especially when there's a slight advantage. He can take advantage of it. And then last but not least, one of the best dogfighters in the game and one of his favorites and pretty much one of my favorites is the F-16A. If you know that thing, it's a beast.
Compared to flying any other things in the game, top tier jets with a high thrust to weight ratio really... really are just unique. Alright, that's enough talking. Let's get into the Might and Tiders. So as you know, these planes are quite maneuverable, and biplane fights can get quite hectic.
Something to keep in mind going forward through all the rest of these fights is I have the ability to fully adjust my flaps. Where he doesn't, he can kind of toggle between combat and regular flaps, which sometimes works to his advantage. all planes are different and the f3f actually has no flaps so this is a pretty dead even matchup as far as the uh the dog fight's concerned now i will be kind of blazing through these fights pretty quick because all the dog fights combined adds up to about 45 minutes of footage and that's not how long this video is going to be so i I managed to talk through the first round, but the win goes to Team PC on this one. And sometimes they're just, you know, dogfights are over quick.
It's just like that sometimes. But notice that he sure as shit not lying on his back. And let's go ahead and get into the second round. So just speeding up things for convenience sake here for just a second, just to kind of get through the merge. Because honestly, these dogfights can get really, really drug out and take quite a while.
And truth be told, if he was not doing the right thing, I would end him very quickly. And that's definitely the truth. But he knows that and he's putting up a good fight. Pretty tight.
Oh, wow. Oh, wow. This is not feeling like a good situation for me here.
Ooh. And there you have it, round two, going to team controller. What did I say? You know, it happens.
It doesn't feel good, but it happens. Alright, so, last and final round of the biplanes. And really all that happened in this fight was, I managed to get the advantage early, scored a couple hits on him, and if you've done 1v1s before, you know once somebody typically scores hits on you, much bigger chance of the fight being over, because now you're playing. is uneven but i cashed it in caught the dub for the third round and so that goes to team pc but contrary to popular belief he still got me one time Alright, so stepping it up to the P-400, something a little more traditional as far as props are concerned.
Something to mention, the P-400 is definitely a slow plane, and does suffer of having the early war belts in the ammunition selection, but it does have the 20mm on the nose, and usually for fighting one person, you get to make good use of that. In this fight, he does lose a flap somewhere in the middle, but he manages to continue fighting me, and he drags this fight out to a total of 3 minutes long, which is a long time to be fighting somebody. But ultimately, I think you know how this one goes. And there you have it, one more for the Master Race.
Getting into the second round here, I'm not going to lie, we'll kind of cut through it a little bit. It generally went the same as the last round, and the fight lasted just as long. What the f*** why'd it pull right?
I tapped you. Oh no. Yeah.
I was pulling one way and for some reason it did pull left. Yeah. That's my f*** up. Well, there you have it.
Another one for mouse and keyboard. And we're going to jump right into the next fight. Now this fight didn't last very long, so I'm just going to let the whole thing run through. And I'm sorry, Diego.
That's insane brother. I'm not gonna lie the fact that I slowed down and I pumped my flaps and you went vertical it makes no sense. Timing. And yeah, that's a 3 for 3 with the P400.
And a little disclaimer, I'm giving them shit, but we do play a lot of 1v1s just to test out planes, to have fun and sharpen our skills. You know, it's all friendly at the end of the day. But we're going to go ahead and jump into the next one with the beloved P-51. Alright, so I'm going to be really honest, the battles in this P-51 are over pretty fast, especially when somebody gets a shot. Yeah, so this is me killing him once.
And then here's me killing him a second time within the first turn. This thing, I've had my fair share of games where like I've been the last one alive and I've like always taken into advantage to having. That's it for me. Yeah, I don't know why I would.
But then I think at this point he really got tired of getting killed so let's watch him return the favor. Damn. I did not control it like I wanted it to. Yep, that's tough.
Note to self, do not get the Mustang slow. So as we can see here, still another one for Team PC, but he still managed to put a kill on the board, preventing it from just being a total wipe. As much as I thought it would have been, at least beforehand, it's not. Now it's time for Big Sexy. She doesn't turn really good, but you know she's got a good bit of engine power And my only gripe is really I wish its battle rating was a little lower so we could actually fight props instead of jets most Of the time but definitely a fun plane to die in Okay, I guess it's not gonna roll.
Yeah, she's a stiff bitch. That's tough. That messed you up, didn't it?
Yeah, bro. Big time. Yeah, that's fucked up.
Yeah, the other rounds went just like this. I pulled right into your nose. Yeah, that was it.
Get off this, bro. I don't like this plane. And as a matter of fact, Diego still hates the fact that we played this plane. But another one on the board for the master race.
And honestly, we all have planes that we really don't like. Alright, so here's where stuff really starts to get fun. In my personal experience with Diego, he seems to do a lot better with jets. And the Sabre's definitely a plane that we have taken out together on numerous occasions.
These fights got really good, and this first fight got drug out to be three minutes long, which means that the fight was neutral, or... neither one of us had the advantage which really shows that he's putting up a big fight and i think you're gonna notice that terrain is a theme here Watch out there Diego Ha ha ha Uh oh Yeah, that mountain messed him up, but it messed me up too though. No! So as you can see, he got one, I got one.
What could happen next? Alright, this one's for all my homies. I don't know why I just did that. That was...
kinda stupid of me. Hmm. Who needs him? Who needs him, you know?
Maybe me, considering how f***ed up my tail is. Okay, I'll take that back. Maybe I'll chase you down, huh?
Yeah... Uh-oh. Oh! That ain't no good.
Nothing, none of it was good. holy crap you're still here and i hope you've subscribed by now uh and yeah of course i'm representing master race another one in the bag for us that was another three minute fight by the way so he didn't go down without kicking and screaming a little um but next thing we're gonna move on to is the f3h demon and this one got pretty fun too uh but i'll definitely say this plane cashes out really hard and this was totally some of our slowest dogfights Uh-uh. Oh, Frank. I f***ed myself right there. That was a crazy little exchange.
That was like, you got shots, and then it was I got shots. That's crazy bro. I don't know how the f*** you did that. So there's that catching the dub. on all three in the demon but definitely not without fighting for a while those fights are quite drug out as well but if you've gotten tired of mouse and keyboard wiping the floor most of the time this one is for you this is a bit of an asymmetrical fight me and my f4j and him with the f4s i believe that the f4s has what's known as the agile eagle package making it much more maneuverable and i'll be honest with you it's definitely dominant over the f4j and i think these dogfights serve a pretty important purpose it's showing that even though he does have the advantage he can take advantage of it because many times if I beat people while I'm in a shittier plane just because they're shit and he wasn't letting none of that shit happen so Oh my god, I forget I forget the guns off-centered console players rejoice I'm not invincible and that's pretty much the theme of our phantom dog fights That's just me live And for the first time in this challenge, your favorite controller player has just wiped the floor with me.
That's a three-piece, leading to my total annihilation this round. Sliding into the big beast, the F-16A. This is kind of the fight that we ride our dignity on, because we both regularly 1v1 each other in this. So, just know there's going to be no bullshit. Get away!
Get away! Yeah, I f***ed myself here. Ooh!
It's alright, I missed you. No more relying on that radar gun sight. Are you out of fuel?
Yup. And I knew it. Are you out of fuel? Nope. How much fuel you got?
30 seconds. That's crazy. Ah.
I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty upset that I couldn't get that win. But, it's 1-1 now, so let's see who can squeeze out that rank 8 victory. Dropping fuel tanks at the last second like a f***ing playboy on crack.
UGH! What'd I hit? And there you have it, a maneuver kill for the last kill.
Not gonna lie, not the most satisfying way to go, but that finishes off our rank 8 for the keyboard and mouse dub. But my point isn't necessarily that keyboard and mouse is better or not, because I think we can all universally agree that... it is and if you don't agree with that I'm sorry but the point I'm trying to make is that with enough game sense and practice you can score kills on your controller against people that have a lot of experience I mean I have 7,000 hours I shouldn't be a slouch there's no excuse for me so well thought from Diego and before we wrap everything up today let's hear a few words from Diego and in the background we'll be playing some of his gameplay footage so you can see what it looks like when he's playing on the controller you I've been playing, I was first introduced to War Thunder probably in, I want to say like 2014? A little after the game first came out, so I definitely had an opportunity. to kind of see the game grow in the beginning.
And then that was on PC. We did pretty good there. So you did play keyboard and mouse for a while? Yeah, I did have my fair share.
Yeah, I did. When I first started, I actually started on keyboard and mouse. Just under 2000 I believe. I know for a fact I logged like 13-1400 hours on my Playstation 4. That's where I first started consoling on War Thunder. And right now I am actually sitting at, let me tell you right here, 809 hours on PS5.
Yeah, so I'm just on a regular PS5 just using the regular I think it's the DualShock 5 controller I believe it is when I set up my flares I like to use down on the d-pad and then you add that with the X I like to keep the majority of the bindings the same as they come, just kind of keep them defaulted. How are you tracking me when we're in a dogfight? Is it that down on the D-pad and then X is what you were saying?
Yeah, so typically I use down on the D-pad and I use my right analog stick. So how long into your controller gameplay did you feel like you started to become a little more confident with the controller? I mean, has it kind of just been iterative and it's just gotten more as it's gone on? Or did you kind of hit a moment where you were like, ah, shit, yeah, like this is good.
I'm all right with this. I feel that once I hit about the year mark, that's where I started to get a little bit better. And I started to realize, hey, okay, you know, I'm not as bad.
As far as I'm concerned, if somebody gets their guns on you and has time to shoot at you, if you're complaining about their aim assist, you have other problems. Yeah, exactly. Like, yeah, aim assist should be the least of your worries.
Yeah, I would definitely say, though, if you're stuck to only having a controller, get in there, man. Get in there, figure out what the game's about, figure out what you need to be doing, and get a head start on your researching and your points, and just get a feel for...