The difference between a double differential steering system and twin transmissions/geared steering lies in whether or not the outer track accelerates during turns.
When the outer track accelerates, the vehicle’s linear velocity becomes equivalent to that of straight-line driving, allowing it to maintain speed.
However, this comes at the cost of increased turning drag, requiring higher engine power compared to systems without outer track acceleration.
This is a very risky thing to do no matter the handling model and probably only works somewhat reliably on Soviet MBTs. Which can still slide around a corner even with the dual transmission system
Am I imagining things, or did the Leopard 2 steering get better after the latest update, .31, an hour ago??
It feels the same to me. Maybe you are just getting used to the new handling and getting better at it!
Being Dyslexic I used ai to help give clearer more constructive feedback
I’ve spent a solid amount of time testing the latest round of transmission and physics changes. While the overall direction feels like it’s moving the right way, several vehicles are suffering from severe low-end sluggishness, gear indecision, or torque starvation.
Below is my detailed breakdown of how individual tanks feel to drive right now, followed by a mechanical suggestion to help with high-speed emergency maneuvering.
🚜 Individual Vehicle Handling Breakdown
• Systemic Issue: All three of these vehicle types suffer from an identical issue where the neutral steer feels too slow overall.
• The Low-to-High Domino Effect: Because low-speed turning through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear is incredibly slow, it creates a domino effect. It makes the high-speed turning circle massive and completely unresponsive, while simultaneously making tight, low-speed maneuvering feel clunky and awkward.
• Leopard 2A4/2A8 Specifics: A bit of a mixed bag overall, though it does retain better high-speed turning performance than the Challenger.
• Type 90B Specifics: Feels like it is lacking a lot of torque in neutral and lower gears. However, once you get it up to speed, its turning radius and responsiveness are actually better than the Leopards.
• The Handling: A complete night-and-day difference compared to the rest of the fleet. It feels incredibly responsive in all scenarios, both at low and high speeds.
• The Flaw: The main issue holding it back right now is transmission logic at low speeds. When turning in place, the 1st and 2nd gears constantly fight each other, causing jerky power delivery.
• The Pivot: Like most of the Western MBTs in this test, the neutral steer feels a bit too slow.
• The 1st Gear Issue: Its biggest problem happens right at the start of a turn. In 1st gear—especially when trying to rapidly transition a turn from left to right—the vehicle becomes basically unresponsive.
• The Recovery: Once the tank actually gets moving past that initial dead-zone, the turning circle is decent, followed by solid high-speed turning performance.
• The Improvements: This is a massive overall performance increase compared to the live server. The new physics allow you to retain a lot more speed when turning throughout the entire gear range.
• The Performance: It is easily one of the better-feeling vehicles in this test batch. Ironically, its lack of overall top speed actually helps it, keeping the handling profile tighter and more controlled.
• The Flaw: Neutral steer is still too slow, which hurts its agility during low-speed maneuvering.
• The Handling: Easily one of the worst-feeling vehicles tested so far. Its neutral steer is horrendously slow, and its high-speed turning circle feels like it takes “40 miles” to complete.
• The Flaw: The vehicle feels woefully underpowered and suffers from inadequate torque, making it incredibly frustrating to drive, particularly at low speeds.
Feature Suggestion: High-Speed “Track Lock” (Handbrake Function)
To help bridge the gap between historical transmission modeling and viable emergency gameplay, I highly recommend implementing a handbrake/track-lock modifier key.
I agree with almost everything in this, except your suggestion at the end.
I’m not saying they don’t feel sluggish but at the same time after playing around with them in the past few days it’s not that bad, definitely usable. Maybe diesel engines would require a rework just like the gasturbine ones.
Pretty much spot on. I’d just add that the Type 10 feels similarly great.
I actually wanted to post a video about the unresponsive bug, you mean the same thing as in this video? The M1 doesn’t start to turn immediately, first it goes a little bit straight. No other tank does this.
I don’t know how fast they are IRL but yeah they definitely feel a bit slow. I think I’ve seen videos of the Leopard turning faster than in-game.
Even Gaijin has said that this is fundamentally impossible. It would be like adding an autoloader to the IS-2. The double differential stuff just doesn’t allow you to do that. Of course Gaijin could still decide to add it but it would be highly unrealistic.
Completely fair enough I just think ultimately this is a game and gaijin has taken liberties elsewhere, having a function to turn tighter in an emergency isn’t something I’d class as game breaking as its only for specific neche situations, giving and is2 and autoloader would however be game breaking, also unfortunately I don’t have access to the type 10 to test as I’ve only just unlocked the type 10, unless the one without the turret armour has the new system?
I meant more like it’s an IRL restriction. An autoloader physically won’t fit inside that turret just like how a double differential transmission can’t brake one of the tracks. Also if Gaijin would add this then anyone could ask for any change for the sake of gameplay. Though it’s not like Gaijin didn’t have double standards before lol
If you unlocked it then you can test drive it? xD You mean the TKX (P)? I’m not sure but if you put your cursor on the transmission in x-ray view it should tell you if it has clutch-braking or double differential.
Also if you look up Ask3lad on Youtube he has a modded user mission where you can test drive any vehicle in the game.
I’ll have a look into that user mission, I’ve never done anything like that before tbh, I normally just stick to the base game with what I have, tbh I have 90% of all the major nations vehicles atm, I had a long break from the game so I had some stuff to grind when I came back otherwise I was just grinding helicopters I was never going to play lol.
I would suggest that people try to also test drive the tanks with the Double Differential steering while having the transmission in manual mode. It feels like an upgrade compared to the current implementation, since you are more in control of when to change gears to do turns, with you being able to shift up and down in gear quickly while turning.
Even with a double differential steering system, some vehicles have separate left and right brakes. For example, the German Tiger tank has left and right brakes in case the differential steering system loses hydraulic pressure.
The brake turning of a double differential steering system is a little different from a clutch-and-brake system in that when one track is decelerated, the rotation speed of the other track increases.
There is also a type of steering device called a “brake differential.” This is a single differential gear with brakes on the left and right sides. This system has the characteristic of a differential system of accelerating the outer tracks of turns, but its efficiency during wide turns is poor at its highest level, so it is not suitable for installation on AFVs, and is often installed on work vehicles such as RSO tractors.
In the files there is also something called “controlled differential steering mechanism”. Currently it’s not used by any tank but I think it could be used in a user mission. I think it’s what the Sherman has?
So I just found something, the BTR-90 got it’s double differential steering lol It has some traction issues at low speeds though. But you can also make a quick 180 degree turn at 60 km/h
Wow, that’s amazing. Yes, a control differential is the steering system known as “Cletrac,” which was widely used in American tanks during World War II.
It’s either not implemented fully or I’m using the wrong name for it but I can’t get it to work. It’s not “controlled_differential” and not “cletrac” either.