I'm not sure I quite understand what everyone is arguing about.
AH2 is a definite improvement - at least, if our perception of reality, as lacking in experience as we all are, is to be based on what data we can collect from testimonies, anecdotes and logical analysis of numbers.
As far as the original, thread-starting post goes, I'm no pony expert but I have been constantly amazed by what they can do - as now the P-51s are more than a challenge to anything which flies against it. In those times I fly the P-51 I am sincerely in respect and understanding, that why it was considered such a supreme fighter in many ways - a feeling I did not have in AH1.
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The gunnery does not favor slower planes at all, and to think so is a huge mistake. I am not suggesting I'm an authority when it comes to this issue, but I have observed very carefully which factors can effect gunnery in what ways, and where the key differences between real life and game environment lies at.
Getting directly to the point, AH2 is now a true-blue, 1945 game, because with the changes in various issues with gunnery, the slower and more maneuverable planes rarely ever have a chance of coming within 600 yards of their target. Accelerating away safely from a slower plane from 400 yards, in some cases even close as 200, is not a rare thing in AH2 now - as compared to AH1 where one would be so harassed by its long-range gunnery out to at least 600 yards.
It is true, that the shortened 'effective range' of gunnery effects some planes in more profound ways, and certainly a big minus to those who made it their style to take snapshots to quickly down planes. But overall it can be said that how it is now, is in so many ways much closer to what it may have been in real-life.
* The convergence issues, differences between wing armament and center-line armament, different effects between HMG armed planes and cannon armed planes are much more pronounced in AH2.
* The killing ranges are down to much more reasonable levels.
* Why "speed" was such an important factor, is also very perceivable than compared to AH1 - where as long as there was alt advantage, any slow plane can shoot a lower one by dropping down and getting inside 600~700 yards, and sniping them out of the sky.
(Also, it more or less closes the long debate concerning the " pilot experience factor" being a key issue in gunnery, when it comes to comparing real life and game enviroment - but this, is another story).
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In very many ways the claimed 'neutering' of P-51 is simply false. Anything the P-51 has suffered in AH2, other planes have suffered at least more than two-fold. The impact of gunnery was much less felt to some planes, typically Luftwaffe type fighters, but this is because they were already limited to more or less historic ranges in AH1.
If such a change, ultimately beneficial in creating a more realistic, authentic, and heart-pounding game play experience, is so terrible in the fact that it is the only reason someone should quit playing the game, then I'm very sorry to say that perhaps that person should not be playing a game of the simulation genre in the first place.
