War Thunder Realistic Ground Battles - Are US tanks good in 2021? - M1 Abrams Gameplay [PC 1080p HD]

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The Tank, Combat, Full Tracked, 105-mm Gun M1, or just M1 Abrams, is a rank VI American medium tank with a battle rating of 10.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.77 "Advancing Storm".

In-game, the M1 Abrams is a fairly quick main battle tank. It accelerates quickly, and will hold a speed of 32 miles an hour (52 km/h) over rough terrain. On city maps or paved surfaces, an M1 Abrams can easily reach its top speed of 45 miles an hour (72 km/h), thanks to its monstrously powerful turbine engine. With three speeds in reverse, it is also capable of an impressive 25 miles an hour (40 km/h) to back away from troublesome situations.

As powerful as the motor may be, the M1 Abrams has a slow to respond, and relatively slow traverse rate for its neutral steering. In some circumstances, it may be more beneficial to back away before turning around, as waiting for the neutral steering to turn 180 degrees is lengthy.

The M1 Abrams also suffers from a raised engine deck. As such, its capacity for "over the shoulder" shots and shots directly over the rear is very limited, because the engine deck prevents lowering the cannon.

The Abrams main strength its its extreme mobility, even by MBT standards, and the very good ballistics of the dart rounds. However, the price comes in protection; the Abrams is quite vulnerable, and struggles to deflect incoming shells with anything: even its turret cheeks are very vulnerable to any top tier round excluding HEATFS. Additionally, The M1 has somewhat sub-par penetration even with its best shell. Because of these factors, it is recommended that you do not use this tank as a front line brawler. Instead, use your speed to quickly appear from angles your opponents are not expecting you to come from. This can take the form of flanking in order to get side shots, Rushing at the start of the game to take an advantageous position, or getting to choke points before the enemy does, in order to be ready to knock them out. Essentially, This tank should be played much like the M18 Hellcat at Rank III, though unlike the Hellcat it is not impossible for your armour to help you occasionally.

A useful thing to note when playing the Abrams, and most MBTs in general, is that if your opponent shows any side armour, you can penetrate them almost every time. if someone is coming towards you even at a slight angle, aim for the the front drive wheel on their tracks. Your shell will be able to penetrate into the tank and likely one shot kill them. It is recommended to use APFSDS as the main loadout, as the HEAT-FS ammunition starts coming against tanks with armour types specifically designed to resist it.

In terms of threats:

Most tanks at its Battle rating, due to the relatively poor armour
Type 90 and AMX-40, as their incredibly powerful shots can penetrate you anywhere, at any angle, at almost any distance
The T-80B, because of its strong armament and very strong armour; it can be penetrated through its lower front plate, the drivers viewport below the gun, and just to the side or below the gun; if a T80B shows any of its side, you can penetrate it there

Pros:

-Very good mobility for its weight
-Good chemical protection from composite armour
-Turret also has composite armour on the side
-Turns very fast, even in neutral steering
-Internal armour plating helps with increasing the crew survivability
-Very accurate main gun with very good gun stabilizers and good rate of fire
-Great forward and reverse speed
-Very good acceleration
-Blowout panels protect the crew from ammo-racks detonation
-Although composite armour is absent on the upper glacis plate, the extreme sloping makes shells bounce every time

Cons:

-Large target
-The three shells under the gun do NOT have blowout panels, if detonated you will die
-No composite armour on the upper glacis plate and in the rear of the turret, so remaining on level terrain is priority
-Low APFSDS penetration compared to Challenger 1 and T-64B
-Inadequate stock ammo loadout; Both the M735 and M456 shells are no longer effective at top rank
-Weakest composite armour compared to Challenger and T-64B
-Losing some crew members will prevent you from firing some of your smoke grenades
-The armour's chemical resistance against HEAT and such is not relevant against contemporary enemies usually equipped with APFSDS
-NVD are a tier III modification
-M774 is a tier IV modification and it is still a pretty weak round for 10.0
-The turret ring is a massive weak spot since any shell at 10.0 can penetrate it
-Like with most Abrams series tanks, the engine deck is slightly raised, meaning that you will not be able to depress the gun over the rear of the tank.