What does the real tanker "Abrams" think about War Thunder

Gaijin Entertainment, the developers and publishers of the multiplayer online simulator War Thunder, which combines ground armored vehicles, combat helicopters, aircraft and a fleet, talked to the player under the nickname Conte_Baracca. As it turns out, he is a US Marine Corps veteran who previously flew an Abrams battle tank. And this is what he thinks about the real tank, its virtual copy and the game in general...

Note . On the official website of the game you can find the full version of the interview in Russian .

We have highlighted a few important points for you:

1. Conte_Baracca is a US Marine Corps officer who took part in the US Army's Abrams tank procurement program. He participated in the modernization of the combat unit, and retired on March 1, 2017.
2. Of the tanks, he had to manage three modifications of the M1A1, namely the M1A1 Common, M1A1 Heavy Common and M1A1 Firepower Enhancement Package (FEP).
3. During combat missions, the Conte_Baracca tank team often had to use additional ammo racks, since the main one was almost always in short supply.
4. In order for the interview hero to compare the real Abrams tank with Wirth??lnym, the developers decided to "rent him" this combat unit. Driving this war machine brought back a flurry of memories from Conte_Baracca, from good to bad. Read more in the full version of the interview!
5. Visually, the virtual machine is identical to the real one. Conte_Baracca emphasized that all the smallest details were reproduced. On the other hand, the former officer complained about the inconsistency of external sounds. For example, he stated that the engine sounds too "airy".

Of course, when organizing this interview, the developers pursued several goals. In addition to creating an article that will be of interest to most fans of the game, Gaijin Entertainment wanted the opinion of a person who is intimately familiar with the real model of one of the combat units presented in the game. And all the shortcomings that Conte_Baracca pointed out will definitely affect the quality optimization and increase the realism of the project in the future.