According to the flight manual for the Fw 190 A5/A6, the Fw 190 A5 can reach a top speed of 660 km/h at 6,300 meters and 560 km/h at sea level when using emergency power (boost), and the manual states that it can sustain this emergency power for 3 minutes. However, as shown in the screen shot
, the in-game Fw 190 A5 can only reach 630 km/h at 6,300 meters and 540 km/h at sea level.
Additionally, the engine overheats so quickly when using boost in the game that it is impossible to sustain it for 3 minutes. These discrepancies are seriously inconsistent with historical facts and greatly detract from the gameplay experience of the Fw 190 A5.
For me, the funniest thing about the FW is the addition of an oil overheating issue that literally turns the plane into a disaster. Over time, you can’t use 100% power, you can only use the WEP at the start of the game, and once the oil temperature reaches its limit, the only way to lower it is by shutting down the engine. It reaches a point where the temperature won’t drop even with 0% power and a dive.
I know that initially the FW had overheating problems, which were partially fixed in the A-5 model and further improved in the A-8 and A-9 (more fan blades). But there’s a world of difference between having overheating problems and being rendered useless in a game.
Did A-8 actually use more fan blades? I had read they tried to increase them but went back to the older configuration since it was better. And all the cooling issues seem to have disappeared from A-4 onwards with the addition of the flaps on the side of the cowling, with no further actions taken.
Initially, adjustable engine cooling vents were added to the Fw 190A5 and the final production A4, so it could be said that they were standardized on the A5, in addition to extending the nose of the aircraft. Regarding the fan blades, I was wrong; the BMW 801TU still has 12 blades, the one with 14 blades is the BMW 801TS (Fw 190A9).
What gets somehow often lost in these discussions is the relation between WEP (110%), MP (100%), engine cooling issues, heat resistant materials and thermal strain / engine wear on cylinder heads / valves - over time and for certain evolution stages of the BMW engines and the sub-variants / engine models.
That means that very early 190s had actually overheating issues whilst limitations of latest A-4 and new A-5 variants had better “heat resistant” engine modifications (materials) and the often cited handbook limitations are mainly there to extend the service life of the engines - especially for WEP usage and continuous power. That’s why later (engine itself and 190) variants had longer intervals for WEP & higher boost pressure usage.
You find a lot of test data, official documents regarding field modifications of engines and other factory documents regarding 190s / BMW 801 (and a lot of other aircraft) here:
If you look up the countless 190 threads in this forum it boils down that the 190s were nerfed in every possible way - with the wildest excuses by gaijin.
I mean i was really tempted to buy the JP premium version as i flew hundreds of 3.7 matches for JP on Pacific maps in more or less infinite full uptier loops - and and no JP plane (below 5.3) is able to catch any US plane at this BR range. But i am not willing to spend money on a flawed product.
Then tell me how to achieve this speed in air combat history / full-real simulation without manually operating the engine, without diving, and without overheating the engine.
I also want to learn
the guy don’t want to overheat, but says the engine can operate for 3 minutes at Military power to reach the quoted speed.
basically : he wants to not overheat on a situation where it should overheat, am i reading this clearly?
anyway,… Gaijin setup for engines is not optimal at anypoint in the game,… you have to use Manual Engine Control (MEC), to reach documented performances.
The engine would overheat in time, because I had MEC force the radiators closed.
That’s all, the screenshot was just taken before the engine heat got high enough, and SEP was still positive [meaning it would accelerate more].
Red heat causes engine damage, reducing performance, and would harm the results as well.
But in every single one of my tests, the engine overheats immediately as soon as I close the radiator, making it impossible to reach this speed at all. This image only proves that you’re lying
Made a video, WEP does indeed go for around 3 minutes at ~79% radiator.
Start of WEP:
End of WEP to see if starting & ending power was still the same:
Starting power:
Ending power: The 999 fuel is when you pause the game.
So yeah, I could’ve gone the full 3 minutes without damaging the engine probably.
This test took longer at over 7 minutes, which is why I didn’t do this initially.
Also on standard military power it maintains 630kph at 6300 meters.
i just made a flightest, and i got surprised that the engine only had radiator control in MEC.
i tried the same run as he did, closing radiator entirely and pushed 110% THR → engine destroyed in few seconds, but reached 649km/h, starting with a 600km/h at 100% THR(for 660 as target).
obviously it’s not the optimal radiator setting,… but this might be the reason why he is confused? (which would check with @AlvisWisla Settings and Datas)
ain’t max speed also affected by the map? i mean thermodynamics are a thing in the game, and maps does have a temperature setting (some are close or under 0°C at sea level, while some others reach higher than 30°C)
Air temps are simulated in War Thunder, yes, and will impact speeds.
As my most recent post confirmed, you can run max speed of ~640kph on 80% radiator for around 3 minutes.
The quick tests were for getting the sustained speed as fast as possible.
Well… I think the engine and radiator performance is pretty historically accurate. It would be even better if MW50 were available.
Changing the subject a bit, but I believe the problems with the Fw 190 in War Thunder lie more with the flight model.
Just a few examples showing that it makes sense to read and understand certain topics before you feel the need to contribute.
Look up the difference between Military power and War Emergency power - then you see why your first remark is not correct in regarding the power settings mentioned to reach top speed.
The handbook says what is allowed to ensure a longer service life and is basically an equivalent of speed limits on public roads: A recommendation.
The handbook for this specific engine type does not state any overheating as a result of not following these recommendations. We talk about the potential outcome: service life and mechanical stress, prolonged high-power operation does raise temperatures, and manuals generally warn about temperature limits. Exceeding the time limit increases the risk of overheating and detonation, even if the handbook doesn’t say “you will immediately overheat". Same as with speed limits: Sooner or later you get a speeding ticket.
That AEC within wt is a total mess regarding this topic is no newsflash, the core problem lies within the fact that wt is unable or unwilling to implement time limits regarding the usage of WEP, MP and continuous power settings and simulates an engine failure / artificial engine wear which is especially regarding this engine a clear sign of not knowing what they do.
What you missed is that basically all engines had certain time limits for the usage of WEP, MP and continuous power in their handbooks. The 190s are just a special case within wt devs as they decided to kill the engine after this limit and do not allow a cooling of the engine.
The main effects of WEP is a power increase based on higher allowed boost pressures (no matter which way like adding MW-50 or anything else). This higher pressure results in higher thermal load on the engine and can cause knocking (early detonation), lubricant problems and reduced service life.
MEC in wt allows using a mix of prop-pitch and radiator settings to create a so called “infinite WEP” for a lot of aircraft allowing you to use WEP the whole 25 minutes of a match without getting even close to an “orange” temperature.
If you think this through it is obvious that wt does not simulate actual interactions within the engines but simulates results based on the settings. In other words: The AEC is crap and MEC allows to “play” with these parameters.That’s why you can fly a P-51 B/C or D with infinite WEP for a whole 25 minute match if you set prop pitch to 100% and both coolers to 80% - despite that their handbooks had also a 5 minute “recommendation”.
To make this clear: Gaijin’s claim for this specific 190 A/F nerf is a joke and just evidence that they think their players would be unable to think…
Your mentioned FM nerfs play a significant rule too - but if i have a 190 A at my six i can easily play with this nerf - knowing that his engine gets in trouble when he needs WEP to close the distance.
