Progression here is long enough that a wrong turn costs real time, which is why the order matters more than the picks.

Short answer

Pick one line and finish it before branching. Spreading across several is the single most common way to stall.

  • Check what each unlock gates before spending on it.
  • Expect the middle to be the slow part.
  • Write down what you changed, so you can undo exactly one thing if it goes sideways.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. Unlock costs rise faster than income does, so early efficiency compounds for a long time. The mid-section is where progression slows sharply, and knowing that in advance helps.

Where people stall

If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. Time estimates online are written by people playing far more than you probably are. The game rarely tells you that a prerequisite exists until you are standing in front of it. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

Respec and reset options exist in some of these games and not others, and that changes how careful to be. A line finished is worth more than three lines half-done, in every game that works this way. War Thunder is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look.

The order that works

Skipping the tutorial content usually costs more later than the hours it saves now. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over.

  • Note whether respec exists before committing.
  • Finish one line before opening another.
  • Read the whole sequence once before doing the first step.
  • Ignore the fastest route if it skips the thing that teaches you the game.
  • Do the repeatable early content while it is still efficient.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.

What to unlock first

The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep.

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

What is safe to skip

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different.

Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Everything below is framed around the current state of War Thunder rather than a launch-week impression.

How long it realistically takes

None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.

Where people go wrong

  • Treating a rare edge case as the normal behaviour and planning around it.
  • Assuming a guide from an older season still describes the current version.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.

War Thunder FAQ

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

How long does it take?

Longer than the guides say, because guides are written by people playing far more hours than most.

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.