War Thunder: Ground Forces expansion moves its tanks into open beta

War Thunder was already pretty war-y, what with its battling sky-tanks. Or "planes". Now, though, it's even war-ier, thanks to a new update that introduces ground-tanks. Or "tanks". The long-teased Ground Forces expansion has been released into open beta, giving a new altitude for players of the free-to-play combat game to fight across. Naturally, the launch trailer features lots of angry metal boxes rolling across some fields.

To add tanks to your 'hanger' (read: tank shed), go to the Research menu's Army tab and buy them in the usual way.

You can see the full patch notes for update 1.41 below.

Ground forces are now available for all players in open beta test (Ground Forces progress achieved by players in the CBT will be wiped);
New planes, which include the MiG-3 armed with cannons, the I-185 reference model, navy version of the B-25 - the PBJ-1 in two modifications and two new jet-powered Me-262 in the German tree,
Griffon powered Spitfire fighters for Britain;
Cockpit for all versions of the Ki-45 heavy fighter;
Optimization of shadows and update of visual effects;
Updated ammunition and ballistics.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.