IL-2 Sturmovik, Beginner's Guide #1 - Learning The Basics

This is part 1 of a new tutorial series that will be focused on IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad etc. This first guide is a basic introduction to the game, and will provide you with enough information to be able to get off the ground in either single player, or multiplayer.

I cover control setup, explain the game modes, and go over the basics of how to take off and land successfully in IL-2.

This guide is designed to be easy to understand for people of varying ages and skill levels, as such I keep the technical jargon to a minimum.

0:00 Introduction
0:42 Control Setup (General introduction)
1:58 Control sensitivity (Flight sticks)
3:48 Mission setup and briefing explanation
7:25 Aircraft startup
9:20 Takeoff tutorial
11:11 Very Basic introduction to engine management
12:06 Landing tutorial
13:42 Single player mode
15:22 Multiplayer mode
16:20 How to practice in IL-2

---Equipment---
VR: Oculus Rift S
Head Tracker: TrackIR
Thrustmaster 16000M Flightpack
Thermaltake View 27 Mid Tower
i7-8700K (6-Core) 3.70GHz OC to 4.70GHz
MSI Z370 Pc Pro Motherboard
Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooling Unit
Corsair 32GB DDR4 3000MHz RAM
Corsair 850W CXM Power Supply
1xEVGA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB
2 X 1TB Samsung SSD 860 Evo
1 X 2TB Samsung SSD 870 Evo
1 X 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus NVME
1 X 3TB WD Elements HDD
Asus ROG Strix 32" Curved Monitor

[TheILAPostalService]

Thanks for covering IL2! Gaijin and WT does not deserve our attention anymore after punishing us for playing sim.

[turtle]

Recently bought IL-2 but haven't tried it out yet - because I fear the setup and stuff. So this is very helpful! Thanks Tea Rex :)

[erikgrant]

I was more than a bit overwhelmed by this game, but I just completed my first take off and landing. Thank you!

[Dr_Jebus]

Great video for beginners! Looking forward to seeing future IL2 tutorials. I'm having fun with it but I'm sure there's so much I still need to learn.

[michrain]

There's much to learn about this game but once you get the basic controls set up it's so much fun to just fly around and do whatever for practice or just for fun lol and with head tracking omg it's amazing. Thank you for the tips :D

[Don-xycy]

Thank you for taking the time to create this video.
You have done a fantastic job, I learnt a lot and I've been play IL2 for a few months.
Thank you

[jameshenderson]

Thank you for this. I have most of IL2 but find it weirdly intimidating to engage with. You've encouraged me to wade in again!

[eyalserussi]

I've been looking for a video like this for a month now I think. Thank you :D your videos are amazing

[Blipse]

Perfect timing I recently dipped my toe into air sim in War Thunder and loved it knew about IL-2 so I bought it but was worried I bit off more I could chew becoming slightly overwhelmed with all the controls but your video helped immensely thank you!

[Agathos]

Wow! Best introduction to a game I've watched in years! Thanks for this excellently scripted tutorial. I just purchased the game because of your video.

[sirdvy]

It's easier to takeoff and land on Il-2 than in war thunder for some reason.
War Thunder's torque work strangely imo.

[sierrahp]

Great content for a day 1 noob like me. I have a little experience with MSFS2020, WT, Rise of Flight and DCS World but this was a great kickstart. Looking forward to watching more. Liked and subbed.

[Zeethaniel]

I was looking for this. Awesome video. Keep it up.

[flightsimflyeruk]

Great introduction to the game! Thanks for taking the time.

[albertocolombo]

Super useful! Very complete and at the same time entertaining. Thankyou

[Wolf-]

Excellent tutorial, very helpful. Thank you and have a wonderful day :)

[kastro]

Thanks for the video! I've flown a good amount of sim battles on War Thunder before, but seeing how the mode has changed recently (and even more for VR users) I guess I'll have to play more IL-2, which I barely touched and is collecting dust in my game library... Hope to see you in the skies soon! :)

[kaywoodparsons]

Wow! Brought me back to the days where I did my first flight in IL2. An old wingmaster stick and an Acer pc! We played for 12 years as the same squadron. AVG Flying Tigers. Started out as the 4th fight group. Really miss it! No common ground nowadays with flying and a good bunch of mates. Especially with shit thunder online now.

[davidwilliams]

Outstanding presentation and highly appreciated by me

[raygun]

Very helpful video! Thanks for making it!