15th winter flying IL2 Sturmovik.

[Jumoschwanz]

Originally Posted by Janosch

I'm willing to bet that the game didn't get any easier, but he instead got better.

I still have the original IL2 installed, a version of Forgotten Battles and also IL246, so I can fly them all back-to-back and compare them and there is no doubt that later versions of IL2 were easier to fly than the original.

That is not saying that it was more or less realistic, just saying that as a piece of software or a "game", that the original IL2 takes more skill to fly, there is no doubt about it. The engines of the aircraft were more fragile, the aircraft stalled easier, the AI was tough, and the aircraft took more damage to down them. It was a lot harder to fly the aircraft and it was harder to get a kill.