Gaijin, the developers of War Thunder, continue to press ahead on their multiplayer wargame extravaganza that they have built up over the years with a major update. War Thunder 1.79 brings with it some long awaited updates to old aircraft models while adding the usual mix of new ones (and new tanks and ships for that matter).

A new non-Premium P-40

We’ve seen the P-40B with its all metal skin show up as a Premium option for some players but what everyone really wanted to see was for that whole line-up to expand. The P-40C, P-40E and now the P-40F are now all in the game and the old P-40E model has been brought up to the latest in War Thunder visual standards.

The P-40F slightly enhances the performance of the aircraft with its Packard Merlin engine adding a bit of performance over the standard one. It’s War Thunder so the differences will feel small but its a nice to have a few different P-40 options in the hangar.

There’s also another long awaited aircraft: The IAR81. Long requested by War Thunder fans (as well as by IL-2 flight sim fans), this aircraft model was built by a community member under their content/profit sharing model that Gaijin has successfully implemented in the past. The IAR81 is looking good and should be a fun addition to the series.

There’s also an update to their Bf110 series adding the F-2 and G-2 to the previously existing Bf110C. Once again, the original Bf110C model (which was quite old) has seen an update visually bringing it up to par. The G model brings with it gunpods and bomb combinations not previously seen on the 110 in War Thunder.

Keeping in fine form, War Thunder also fills in the gaps of the most obscure aircraft as well as the common ones so they have seen fit to include the Bf109Z. Popular in some IL-2: 1946 dogfight servers back in the day, this MK108 armed twin Messerschmidt is based on a real design but one that never saw full fruition.

There’s more aircraft. Here’s the whole list:

USA

• FJ-4B
• P-40F-10
• P-40E-1 (Reworked Model and cockpit updated)
• F4U-4B Corsair VMF-514 – Xbox One exclusive
• P-47D – cockpit updated

Germany

• Bf 109 Z
• Bf 110 F-2
• Bf 110 G-2
• Bf 110 C-7 (updated model, clarified modification)

France

• F4U-7
• F-84G-26-RE
• LeO 451 lat

Great Britain

• Beaufighter Mk.21 (detailed cockpit created by a player has been added)

Japan

• Ki-32

USSR

• Il-28Sh

Italy

• IAR-81C
• Re.2000 G.A.

There’s also new sounds for all aircraft weapons, new sound effects and updates to the audio engine, new air and ground battles maps, and dozens of new vehicles added as well. The Fritz-X guided bomb also makes an appearance carried by the He177. Oh… and War Thunder is coming to Xbox One and Xbox One X.

Read all about the changes here or watch their trailer for War Thunder 1.79.