Russian WWII Flight Simulator 'IL-2 Sturmovik' Getting VR Support In March

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By Kevin Carbotte
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IL-2 Sturmovik is a little-known World War II flight simulator series developed by 1C Game Studios in Moscow. The game features accurate recreations of Russian WWII-era aircraft and the environments in which they flew. 1C Game Studios offers two versions of the game, Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad, and both versions are set to receive VR updates in the coming month.

In its latest blog, 1C Game Studios revealed that it has an internal build of IL-2 Sturmovik working with Valve’s Open VR API. The developer said that it got the simulation working on both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

1C Game Studios plans to run an internal beta test soon and expects to have VR support ready for the public in March. The developer said that the game’s visuals work in VR already, but adjustments must be made to improve performance before it’s ready to release the build publicly.

1C Game Studios sells Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad as separate games, but both are built on the same client and authorization system, which makes them compatible with each other in multiplayer gaming. Each version is available for $49. 1C Game Studios also offers premium editions of each game for $79, which include two additional plane models. The VR mode is a free update.

Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • canadianvice
    Little-known?

    I think you should reconsider, unless you were being sarcastic. Anyone who's ever looked up flightsim has seen IL2-S.
    Reply
  • anbello262
    19308581 said:
    Little-known?

    I think you should reconsider, unless you were being sarcastic. Anyone who's ever looked up flightsim has seen IL2-S.

    It might be well-known in that specific group, but I would say that for the mainstream it's quite unknown.
    Reply
  • tom1502
    It's definitely not "little known". You want a WW2 combat flight simulator the only ones about anymore are part of the IL2 franchise, IL2 1946, IL2 Cliffs of Dover, IL2 Battle of Stalingrad/Moscow.
    Reply
  • tripkebab
    Scrolled down to say exactly the same thing.. Little known? U MAD?!?!
    Reply
  • jean 1990
    Il2 realism in control are amazing, the enemy AI however seems unrealistic as they can easily outclimb and outturn you in an inferior machinery. Today, DCS appear now to have surpass it in term of realism but you have to install each aircraft yourself so it is more hassle.

    I have the older 1946 version, i can only drool to see the sturmovik 2 since my pc isnt powerful enough, tried install it and it only runs 30-40 fps which is unacceptable for a flight sim.
    Reply
  • spdragoo
    Actually, the only reason I know about it was because my brother-in-law bought it years ago when it first came out...& even then, he preferred playing Combat Flight Simulator 2 (even though it was limited to Pacific campaigns), so I've never really seen it played.

    But hey, if you're wanting relatively old, "realistic" flight simulators to get VR support, I would love for someone to bring back the old "Birds of Prey" PC game from 1992...
    Reply
  • Gildas
    OMFG! Now, I must find a strategy to convince the dear wife...
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    IMO Flight and Driving sims should be some of the best uses of VR. I used to play a lot of flight sims and enjoyed them but dogfighting was never fun for me, tracking planes during a tight fast dogfight is very unnatural when you can't look around the cockpit. I used to play the A10 sim for hour after hour... loved CAS and Ground Attack missions. Then there was the F14 sim... that was generally beyond visible range engagements so not as much close engagement.
    Reply
  • kcarbotte
    19308581 said:
    Little-known?

    I think you should reconsider, unless you were being sarcastic. Anyone who's ever looked up flightsim has seen IL2-S.

    Wasn't being sarcastic.
    If you aren't familiar with flight simulators, you've likely never heard of this game. It's not well known to the general public, though I'm sure it's highly revered by those in the know.

    Reply
  • Donny_5
    The only thing that is "little-known" is obviously the author's knowledge about flight sims.
    Reply