Ok, this has been bugging me for a while! after investigating the performance of the M18s and similar, can someone PLEASE explain why the M18s bounce around and tip over like they have literally no weight to them at all.!!
I have checked multiple places including the infamous Chat BPT and it seems quite consistent -
Whilst FAST, Lightweight - they were all very stable and rarely overturn or ““Tip”” over especially frontwards due to its extremely good suspension,
Heck even on google it mocks the M18 in war thunder.!!
No, the M18 GMC (Hellcat) was not so unstable that it would tip over on its own. While it was the fastest tracked vehicle of World War II, capable of reaching nearly 55 mph, its advanced torsion-bar suspension and low profile actually gave it excellent stability for cross-country driving.
While it didn’t tip over from normal driving, the M18’s lightweight chassis (18 tons) led to a few other noted quirks: [[1]]
- Gun Recoil: When firing the gun over the side, the M18 would rock violently. When the chassis was later modified to mount larger 90mm guns (the “Super Hellcat”), the recoil caused the vehicle to jolt backward by nearly two feet.
- High-Speed Maneuvers: Hitting bumps or trenches at high speeds sent the vehicle airborne rather than causing it to roll, but the suspension handled uneven surfaces quite well.
The “tipping” or extreme instability often discussed is generally a meme or physics quirk in modern video games like War Thunder, rather than historical reality. In fact, due to its speed and excellent handling, the Hellcat was incredibly well-liked by its crews and boasted one of the highest kill-to-loss ratios of any U.S. armored vehicle in the war.
SO WARTHUNDER DEVS - Why is it that the M18 is ridiculously unbalanced.!
