Aces of Thunder, from the studio behind the well-known flight sim War Thunder, is set to launch in Q4 on PSVR 2. Alongside a new trailer, the studio revealed today that the game is also coming to PC VR.
From the outset, flight sims in VR have been an obvious choice thanks to their emphasis on immersion. And it’s fortunate that some of the biggest names in flight simulation, like Microsoft Flight Simulator, DCS World, and War Thunder have added support for VR headsets.
But in the vast majority of cases, these VR-optional flight sim games don’t support motion controls fully or even partially. Which means you can’t interact with the plane’s cockpit in the natural way you’d expect to—like reaching out to grab the flight stick or twist and push the buttons and dials in front of you.
Last year War Thunder developer Gaijin Entertainment announced that it would use its flight sim chops to bring a VR-native flight sim, Aces of Thunder, to PSVR 2.
Gaijin announced today that Aces of Thunder is set to launch in Q4 2024. In addition to PSVR 2, the studio confirms the game is also coming to PC VR. A new trailer shows the game shaping up to be one of the best looking VR-native flight sims we’ve seen yet.
“From the very beginning we focused mainly on VR-specific ergonomics and the immersive flight experience achievable with modern hardware. To reach these goals we have rewritten and optimized the VR-subsystem of the Dagor Engine (some of these improvements can be seen in War Thunder already, a game that uses the same engine),” says Vladimir Dranyonkov, game director of Aces of Thunder. “We have re-evaluated our approaches to user interactions along with audio and visuals, so familiar from our previous experience with War Thunder. We also worked on addressing common comfort issues without harming the simulation aspect of aerial combat. This, we hope, will attract new pilots to our virtual skies.”
Gaijin says Aces of Thunder will focus “solely on aerial battles of legendary aircraft in the most iconic theaters of war.”
“More than twenty meticulously recreated models will be available to players at launch. The roster includes the American P-51 Mustang and P-63 Kingcobra fighters, the German Bf 109 and Fw 190 fighters, the Soviet IL-2 attack aircraft, the British Spitfire fighter and the Japanese A6M3 Zero,” the studio says.
So far the price of the game hasn’t been revealed, but we’ll be keeping our eyes on the skies as the Q4 release date approaches.