It's not just the visuals and roster being updated. In the premium-only corner comes the Magach 3, an Israeli refit of the old M48, as well as the AMX-30, which is actually just a cheaper, older version of the AMX-30B2, but it does pay out extra currency, if you want a fast-track to semi-modern tank tech. These are all able to be earned through regular play. Those of you fancy gits who have played long enough to reach the Cold War era of War Thunder's tech tree will find themselves rewarded with the American M1 Abrams, British Challenger, the German Leopard 2k, French AMX-30B2 Brenus (bristling with reactive armor plate to save it from ATGM hate) and the Russian T-64B. For those with a halfway modern GPU to flex, the game now boasts much more natural lighting, pooling and rippling water and some nicely atmospheric rain effects. The star of the show here is a new renderer, which, while not quite offering as night-and-day a transformation as World of Tanks' upcoming overhaul promises, doesn't look half bad. War Thunder's Version 1.77 (officially titled 'Advancing Storm') feels like the most significant change the game has seen in a while.

Sneaking in just a week before World of Tanks' v1.0 overhaul, War Thunder has refreshed itself with a shiny new graphics engine and a slew of iconic Cold War era tanks to drive, including that chunky American workhorse the M1 Abrams.

Despite Gaijin's free-to-play omni-sim War Thunder starting out exclusively as a game of World War 2 aerial combat, recent years have seen it take the fight to Wargaming's rolling festival of tankitude, World of Tanks, offering its own accessible yet semi-realistic take on armored ground battles.

War thunder trailer