World of Tanks set to upgrade graphics, physics this year

World of Tanks is looking to up its game in the coming year, and we'll be lucky enough to have front row seats: the Wargaming developers will be releasing a series of new developer diaries to catalog improvements to the game. Changes will include new graphics, new vehicle physics, and more destructible and challenging environments.

The trailer below, titled “World of Tanks Refined,” shows off some of the team's ambitions and early test models. “The goal of introducing new materials modeling is to show the tanks as big, heavy chunks of metal,” one developer says in the video. The trailer shows tread elements moving independently over rough terrain and walls splintering into individual chunks of brick.

The team is also hoping to add atmospheric elements that will affect view range and structures that break apart using the Havok physics engine. The overall effect should be a more realistic, immersive simulation for World of Tanks' massive playerbase to enjoy. It's great to see that Wargaming's more recent release of World of Warplanes isn't slowing down innovation for the series standard-bearer.

Check out the World of Tanks website to start playing. If you're new to the game, you can also check out our guide to World of Tanks here .