I would say it is mainly related to experience as the P-47s require a very specific play style (some would say boring) to make them work - whilst the Air RB meta favors fast climbing props and requires an early game impact which is impossible with the lower BR P-47s.
In other words:
If you play to grind or to progress the 4.3 D-25 has the identical drawbacks like the German 190 As below 5.0 - not easy to use, rather one-dimensional play styles and no reliable grinding tool.
Regarding climb rate:
Climb rate and acceleration is a big issue for the stock P-47D. Focus on Compressor , Engine , Wing repairs and Engine Injection first. During this performance focused grind, you can additionally research New 12.7 mm MGs and the various payload modules to unlock the higher tiers for the better performance upgrades.
from:
P-47D-25 - War Thunder Wiki
I recommend excessive sideclimbing on standard maps and reverse climbing on these small frontline maps (u climb behind your own airfield).
U need to use MEC (adjusting PropPitch and mixture whilst closing both radiators) and keep your IAS speed around 280 -300 kmph. You have to stay away from the fight and remain unspotted (marker range ~ 10 km) whilst avoiding contrails anywhere near own bases or airfields.
Regarding play style:
In addition you suffer from the abysmal bad team performance (due to lack of experience of the average player) of US teams and sometimes from way too small maps which denies you to even get (or sneak) to altitude.
The problem is that you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
So in order to make a P-47 work you need a energy advantage - but in order to get this advantage you have to side climb and invest a hell of time staying away from the fight whilst trying to remain unspotted.
Due to the fast pace of most prop BR matches you face often 2 outcomes:
- U have managed to outclimb your most dangerous opponents (which you have identified whilst climbing) but when you feel confident to join the fight the last enemy died in a stupid action. (~ 10% of my games)
- Same as #1 but you see your last team mate dying in a stupid action and you play 1 vs all (~ 40% of my games)
I actually enjoy flying the UK 3.7 version (premium via war bond shop) and the Italian TT BR 5.0 D-30 but even more the US D-28 as the US teams are way weaker and give me the challenge to play last man standing.
Yes, you need patience and these matches are basically hit or miss, but the option to beat the odds (like playing 1 vs 8 and winning like in this replay or 1 vs 7 in this replay) is for me the main reason to play the P-47s - even if we talk about max 5-8 % of my matches with such an outcome.
The harsh truth is that you end up mostly with their whole team behind u - i would guess that in ~ 15-20% of my games i end up with a mission score of zero even if i managed to stay alive.
So if you don’t feel confident enough to play in ~ 40% of your matches 1 vs their whole team i recommend either to skip the P-47s or to play them in other TTs as from my perspective the MM creates there way more favorable lobbies for you.
Conclusion:
- U need a hell of experience to make them work whilst most of your adversaries can replace this experience thanks to their way superior climb rate.
- U need to be fully aware of “who is where” with regards to situational awareness as your main strength is speed and one initial high speed turn.
- U need patience to play P-47s (and a thick skin as you get harassed by your enemies) as the P-47s excels mainly late and very late game. So even if you play 1 vs 4 and manged to kill 3 of them, you will lose by tickets as there is no time left to find and kill the last enemy (like in this replay). A 40 minute match timer would help a lot.
- Don’t listen to people without any reliable experience in P-47s (displayed by success whilst flying them) and have in mind that most of your enemies fly easy to use planes, so you need an experience advantage to beat even rather mediocre opponents just because their plane performance allows them to get away with basic mistakes whilst any mistake (like loss of situational awareness or just clouds which kills it upfront) is usually a recipe for disaster.
- I would skip the D-25 and play just the D-22/23 or D-28/30 (which turns quite nicely) - the Yak-3 spam at 4.0/4.3 makes this BR slot a real pain to fly - i actually favor the US BR 3.3 Hellcat as you can beat Yak-3s in (full) uptiers by turnfighting them - whilst (if you play with mouse aim) the P-51 C-10 or the BR 4.3 premium D-10 (a real beast if flown by a good pilot) are the way better and way easier to use choices.
Have a good one!
