Impressive historical aircraft simulator/arcade shooter War Thunder has added new targets, tanks, along with a few other new aircraft in Patch 1.41. This is the official open beta release of Ground Forces, and as the video posted above illustrates, only Russian and German historical tanks and AAA guns are operable at this moment, but at the very least, it is at least accessible to all now. For those who feel more comfortable on the ground, in order to be able to play a tank of either nation, you simply switch the tab in the "Research" panel in-game, and then play on as normal.

As our previous preview illustrated, the move from closed beta to open beta for Ground Forces represents a clear and present competitor to land-based juggernaut World of Tanks. While no one is arguing that World of Warplanes is going to overtake War Thunder any time soon, World of Tanks does have the competitive scene, large community, and extensive number of tanks behind it. Of course, the main draw behind War Thunder is the inclusion of the Simulator and Realistic modes, and while I haven't delved into them myself, it provides much more of a challenge than the Arcade mode, I would imagine, and certainly more so than the arcade feel of WoT.

As the open beta for War Thunder develops, we will see how precisely this competition shapes up, but for the moment, each game has its features and drawbacks that can entice different players to each version. At the very least, as a rather avid fan of WoT, I can find no harm in testing out WTGF, and look forward to both games improving as competition heats up.