I wanted to point out something about the Su-30SM’s thrust vectoring in War Thunder — right now, it feels off compared to how it behaves in real life or in more detailed flight sims like DCS.
Currently, in War Thunder, the thrust vectoring mostly seems to let you perform flashy post-stall maneuvers like the Cobra. It looks cool, but in terms of actual combat usefulness, it doesn’t really help you win dogfights or decrease your turn time like it should.
In reality — and in DCS — the Su-30SM’s 3D thrust vectoring nozzles are integrated with the flight control system to actively assist in maneuverability, especially during sustained turns. It allows the aircraft to keep its nose pointed at the target even when it’s at high angles of attack, and significantly helps with turn rate and nose authority in close combat. It’s not just about show maneuvers — it’s a real tactical advantage in a dogfight.
Right now, War Thunder treats thrust vectoring more like an “on/off” trick for post-stall moves, but it doesn’t really give the Su-30SM the supermaneuverability advantage it should have in practical terms. Hopefully this can be adjusted so it works more like in DCS — where it actually helps you win fights, not just look cool.
Only thing that I can see making TVC improve a bit in the future is the AL-41’s. Even those engines won’t solve the massive drag of the Su30 and its bad FM, but theoretically they will make it able to sit on its engines a little longer and a little more. Other than that, TVC is more of a gimmick, it’s extremely situational in air RB, and the only time I found it useful was when very few enemies were left (no 3rd party). I honestly don’t see it getting better than this unless they somehow decide to tweak the FM more.
Yeah, there’s a mod version by Code Name Flanker, but the Su-30SM is also being worked on as an official module by a third-party dev. Not out yet, but it’s more than just a mod at this point.
DCS’s flight model system is effectively the same as War Thunder’s.
DCS does not have automatic thrust vectoring aircraft at this time either, they don’t have an Su-30SM. Mods don’t count.
War Thunder’s Su-30SM’s thrust vectoring nozzles are integrated with the flight control system to actively assist in maneuvering.
That does not mean it will win dogfights against superior aircraft.
War Thunder does not and has never treated thrust vectoring as on/off.