This past summer, I've been trying different types of PC games. Yes, I bought Battlefield 2042, but I've done Battlefield games since the original (BF 1942)...it gets old.
Prior to this year, I was playing War Thunder, mainly Air - arcade battles mode, Air - realistic battles mode, and some dabbling with air- simulation battles mode, which requires a stick, a throttle, and head-tracking. Sim battles is also VR-compatible and I've also done that - it's fun!
I quit playing War Thunder last fall. In trying to fill the void, I started playing IL-2 Stumovik: Battle of Stalingrad and it's different maps/campaigns, and also bought some premium planes. That game is also VR-capable, but is more difficult to configure for VR, but it flies extremely well with TrackIR too.
This summer, I saw a game being advertised called Gunner, Heat, PC! It is a moderate level tank simulator. It's not quite easy and not quite difficult. It plays better than War Thunder's ground battles model. I liked it so much that I decided to become one of their Patreon members, helping to report bugs and donating funds to help the game grow. In being a Patreon member, I was able to play their Patreon version of the game (which was available before the game made it to Steam). September 2022 was the Early Access release date, so you can get that game on Steam now. It's in an alpha state, so there are bugs but the devs have created a roadmap for the game, so it'll be growing over time. It's a great game - I highly recommend it.
Lastly, I've been playing a hardcore tank sim called Steel Beasts. I've actually been playing versions of this game for a very long time, close to 20 years. I bought it around the year 2000 when it was being sold on a CD. I still have that disk, too. The game has evolved over time to be quite hefty. The consumer version of the game is called Steel Beasts Pro Personal Edition (PE). It's an expensive game now (it was also expensive 20 years ago, too). The game is $115 if you're purchasing the unlimited license. You can buy limited licenses (1 month, 4 months, and 12 months, at $9.50, $29.50, and $49.50, respectively). With unlimited licenses, they send you a USB dongle that houses the license, which is required to use to play the game. As well, every three years, there are major version changes, which requires licensing updates, which costs $40.
Steel Beasts is over-the-top sophisticated. Up until recently, it had this very convoluted install process that was straight-up painful. With the latest version, released a few months ago, the install process is a lot more simple. As well, the difference between v4.1 (which I'd been playing a lot the past 2 years) and v4.3 (the latest version) is drastic! The game appears to be better optimized (plays smoother and loads faster) but the graphics are actually stunning. There's now heat blur and haze.
I've also recently been playing with the mission editor as an attempt to learn things about the game that I've not yet tried. Creating/editing missions is tedious but the reward if you create a good mission is astoundingly satisfying! I'm just dabbling in mission editing and created a mission where I've a US tank battalion pitted against a dug-in Soviet tank company, where the US tank battalion is forced to funnel it's forces into a kill zone. The enemy is out of reach when the US unit comes out of a valley and there's no cover (it's a desert map), so you've to plan a way to get within range of the Soviet tanks without losing all your tanks. Not only are the Soviet tanks dug in, they're hiding behind small hills. It's a works in progress but it was fun building the mission and was also fun playing it.
I'm having so much fun with Steel Beasts that it will probably quickly replace War Thunder as my favorite game. Note: Steel Beasts is more of a training aid than a sim. There's a lot to the game and you'll not be able to play it without studying up and running through it's training guides. It's not something you're going to be able to play in 30 minutes, unless you can find user-created missions that are strictly designed for short duration gameplay. The manual is close to 250 pages, so if you're interested, be prepared to study.
I also play VTOL VR, a VR PC flight sim that is flown using the VR controls! The graphics fidelity is a turn-off for some folks but the game is highly immersive, mainly because the cockpit can by manually manipulated (ie, cockpit buttons can be actuated virtually, using your VR controls). The game is also extremely popular. There are three planes you can choose to fly, as well as a helicopter.
I don't have a lot of footage of VTOL VR because it taxes my system badly. With VR PC games, the PC renders the game footage, and also pipes it to the VR display. The gameplay isn't bad in itself but playing the game and also recording it puts huge stress on the system. I'm currently researching ways I can offload recording to another system (USB recording hardware). Initially I flew this game while the VR headset was tethered to my gaming laptop. I later determined how to play the game without a USB cable (I use Virtual Desktop, which enables me to play it while wirelessly connected to the gaming PC). Flight footage of this game can be found on my Twitch channel.
My VR headset is an Oculus Quest 2 w 64 GB of storage.
My Twitch channel that I stream to - unixfool - Twitch
I also have a YouTube page that has some recorded War Thunder gameplay:
War Thunder RB - Full Matches - YouTube
War Thunder - My ace matches - YouTube
