Arcade vs Realistic vs Simulator: War Thunder Mode Matrix

War Thunder is not one game with skins — it is three rule sets sharing one vehicle roster. Arcade Battles, Realistic Battles, and Simulator Battles change the controls, the information you get, how many times you spawn, and what the battles pay.

The mode matrix

System	Arcade Battles	Realistic Battles	Simulator Battles
Controls	Simplified physics, mouse-aim assist	Realistic physics, no aim assist	Full realism, heavier control model
Enemy marking	Markers on visible enemies	No markers; scouting reveals positions	No markers; spotting only
Respawns	Spawn points allow multiple spawns	One life per spawned vehicle	One life per spawned vehicle
Radar	Marker system reduces its role	Functional on vehicles that carry it	Functional and meaningful on equipped vehicles
Rewards and costs	Lower multipliers, cheaper repairs	Higher multipliers, higher repairs	Highest multipliers, highest repairs
Learning curve	Gentle	Steep	Steepest

Reward multipliers, repair costs, and radar behavior shift with updates and premium status, so treat the relative order — arcade cheapest, simulator richest — as the rule and check the results screen for current numbers.

What each mode actually feels like

Arcade is a faster, friendlier game. The mouse-aim system makes guns responsive, markers tell you where enemies are, and spawn points let you come back after mistakes. If you want to learn maps and handling without dying to an invisible shooter, arcade is the classroom.

Realistic is the middle path and the largest player pool. Physics behave realistically, nobody is marked until scouted, and a single life per vehicle makes positioning matter. Rewards are better than arcade, but so are repair costs — a fast death in a high-BR vehicle can cost more than the battle paid, a problem the repair cost page covers in detail.

Simulator is the purist mode: realistic controls, no assist of any kind, radar where equipped, and the richest rewards per battle. It also has the smallest population, so expect longer queues and wider brackets off-peak.

Choosing your mode

Pick by what you want from a session:

• Learning the game → Arcade. Learn maps, weak spots, and gun handling with a safety net.
• The main experience → Realistic. It has the population, the best-balanced rewards, and skills that transfer to every other mode.
• Challenge and maximum rewards → Simulator, once your controls and map knowledge are solid.

Does progress carry across modes?

Yes — a vehicle unlocks once and can be taken into any mode. Modifications and crew training apply to the vehicle, not to a mode-specific copy. What changes is how the vehicle handles and how much a battle pays, not whether you own it. Trying a different mode is therefore cheap: queue the same garage and see which suits you.

Respawn rules differ the most between arcade and the other modes — see the respawn mechanics page. And since scouting drives realistic and simulator play, the scouting guide is the natural next read.