I’ve been a tad puzzled over the J2M5. On paper, it seems to be very similar to the J2M3, excepted it’s a tad bit heavier, and has an engine (that per the game datacard is lighter than the J2M3’s, so not sure where the extra weight went) made for high altitude.
But when I fly it, the controls feel strangely heavy, like it’s a pain to get the nose pointing where you want. Now, J2Ms are not exactly meant to be A6Ms in the first place, and they’re known for the controls getting heavier in dives, but what I’m saying is, next to its two sisters (haven’t tested the premium J2Ms, so can’t speak for them) the J2M5’s feel comparatively notably heavier to steer, more or less at all speeds, and I’m not seeing anywhere a reason that could explain that - from everything I can see, it should handle relatively similarly.
So I’m wondering if I missed something, a detail about the J2M5 that could explain this feeling ? Or if the feeling itself is just weird. And as an aside, I’m also curious where the extra 70kg (per the wiki I think) are, maybe it’s related, and according to the game it’s not the engine, so I’m not sure…
Guns maybe Idk the armaments off the top of my head but if one has more cannons that’d do it.
J2M3 and J2M5 have the exact same armament afaik (4 type 99, one mark 2 and one mark 1 in each wing). Same available belts and total ammo count too.
That’s why it puzzles me so much, aside from the engine and the mysterious 70kg difference, they should be identical and shouldn’t feel noticeably different to handle.
well here’s the thing, the j2m3 and m5 dont have the same engine, the m3 uses the Ha-32 Mod 23 and the m5 uses the Kasei 26, where the kasei is more geared towards high alt performance, and then we get the fact the m5 just has a larger cockpit, which means more materials, more weight and more drag, hence why the m5 doesnt perform as well as the m3 does in general warthunder engagements, because the alts were getting the m5 wasnt designed to fight in, its the reason why the bf109g14 is considered such a bad plane, its at the same br as the g6, but is meant to fight in an area no one actually goes to.
As you say, the J2M5 had a somewhat different cockpit; combined with the different engine weight and the weight of the supercharger, this would have made the M5 more sluggish than the M3.
The problem with the G-14 is that it is marginally superior to the G-6, yet one sits at BR 4.7 while the other is at BR 5.3. The G-14AS is the high-altitude version of the G-14, but I believe that—aside from the difference in power output at altitude—it suffers no mobility penalty despite the increased weight.