Tanker in Ukraine Reports His Job Easier Having Played Video Games
One of Ukrainian soldiers who managed to destroy a modern T90M tank confessed in an interview that successfully neutralizing the Russian vehicle was facilitated by his knowledge from video games, which helped him know where to strike.
Interacting with video games can be beneficial in real life, often in unexpected situations, as they have evolved beyond purely entertainment purposes.
This is exemplified by the Ukrainian shooter Serhiy, who, together with the driver Oleksandr, forms the crew of the Bradley combat vehicle, which is part of the 47th Brigade. The advanced Russian T-90M "Breakthrough" tank was destroyed by these soldiers. Serhiy gave some of the credit to his experience... with video games (see the 0:43-0:49 segment of the clip below).
The soldier, whose recent accomplishment was captured in a viral video posted on the X platform, gave an interview to the Ukrainian service TCH. He acknowledged in the interview that the attack maneuver on the modern Russian tank was extremely risky, but thanks to video games, he knew where to strike to neutralize the threat.
We fired with everything we could. At first, with anti-amour. Then, we started having issues. But as I played video games, I remembered everything. Both how to hit them and where.
We can only guess what Serhiy was playing. However, his statement clearly implies that these were military titles with a mechanic indicating the weak points of tanks.
Given that the Ukrainian soldier is a part of the Bradley's crew, it might have been a game like War Thunder, which includes both the armored vehicle and the T-90M tank, along with the mentioned mechanics. Other fairly safe guesses are, of course, World of Tanks and Armored Warfare - but these games don't feature modern Russian tanks.
Finally, it's worth noting that Serhiy's story isn't the initial instance where a Ukrainian soldier owes part of his combat skills to video games. Currently, the medium can effectively capture the experiences that combat drone operators may go through, at least visually.
