War Thunder has spawned enough surrounding work that the ordering question comes up constantly.

Short answer

It exists, it is official, and it is not required to understand the game — but it does fill in the parts the game only gestures at.

  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.
  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.
  • Region and platform change more than people expect, so confirm both.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them. Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release.

Whether it is worth your time

Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.

Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

What exists officially

Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. War Thunder is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look.

  • Look for an official assets page before downloading anything.
  • Check whether something is official before treating it as canon.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.
  • Play first if you mind spoilers — adaptations rarely respect them.
  • Credit fan artists if you reuse their work.

Where it fits with the game

Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. Everything below is framed around the current state of War Thunder rather than a launch-week impression. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

What is fan-made

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over.

Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

Where to find it legitimately

If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

Where people go wrong

  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.
  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.

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.

Is it canon?

Where the developers have said so, yes. Adaptations produced under licence are frequently their own continuity.

Is this still accurate after the latest War Thunder update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

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.

If you only take one thing from this: the answer near the top is the part that matters, the rest is context.