I don't like the people that fly the La-7, don't really have anything against the plane. Typically, a fight against an La-7 goes something like this-
1. La-7 dives in an attempt to get on my 6.
2. I move.
3a. La-7 zoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmm. (this happens a lot with runstangs and run90s also).
3b. La7 runs.
3c. La7 tries really hard to get on my tail, but is just to incompetent to manage it. Finally La7 realizes he is going to die if he stays, so he levels out and runs screaming for some friends.
4a. I chase La-7, friends arrive, La-7 grows some balls and turns around now that the odds are even at 7 to 1.
4b. I turn for home, La-7 turns around, loop back to 1. Repeat until final result is 4a.
The La-7 is in my opinion the 2nd best 'fighter' in the game. The Spit IX gets first place on my list because it has versatility. The La-7 can out-fight anything within 50mph of its top speed, no problem, assuming the pilot can find his own bellybutton with both hands and a candle.
P-51 vs La-7: All the La7 has to do is get the P-51 down below 200mph, and he wins. You can figure out how on your own.
109G10 vs La7: The G10 is real real close to being my pick for 2nd best fighter. It is almost a 'even fight' between the La7 and 109G10. The La7 turns better, accelerates better, rolls better, has more firepower, and can keep up with the G10 in the vertical. However, I'd say the difference between the two planes is really negligible except for the La-7s superior firepower.
190D9 vs La7: No contest, La7 wins hands down at any speed.
Typhoon vs La7: Typhoons got more firepower, and it turns better than the La7 and accelerates better than the P-51. I'd give the La7 a significant edge, but the Typhoon pilot has a shot.
Spit IX vs La7: La7 can attack at will, and rely on his speed, acceleration, and climb rate to win unless he is a real idiot. Of course, this wouldn't be a 'fight' in the traditional sense, the La7 does the same thing to a GV, or a building.
N1K vs La7: See above.
Anything else vs. La7: La7 will have the edge in acceleration, top speed, climb rate. Turning will depend on the plane (the La-7 turns about as well as a 109G-2), firepower will typically go to the La-7.
Almost forgot, the La-7 is one of the most durable fighters in the game on top of its incredible performance. I've hit one with 5 30mm shells and had it fly off. Granted, that is a rather extreme example, but they can take 1 or 2 and survive unless they are to the tail.
Personally, I rank the La-7 equal with the Tempest as far as "fighting" ability. The Tempest performs better at high altitude, at low altitude it has better vertical performance but the La7 turns better. Firepower obviously goes to the Tempest.
As far as the cannons being 'weak', they are 20mm cannons. Even the LW 20mm cannons aren't 'weak' and the La-7s guns are better than Mg151s.
But even with all that, if I could run into pilots who were willing to fight I'd be happy. If they can fly their La-7 better than I can fly whatever I'm in, they deserve to win. Typically you won't find an La-7 willing to fight one on one, though (perhaps because they don't have confidence in their fighting ability? Seems like the best hypothesis to me). As far as "I fly the La7 so I can chase down runners!" Get hold of yourself. You fly the La-7 so you can run whenever you want, just like everyone else does. Hell, when I fly the La-7 it is so I can run whenever I want to. The plane fights better than what I typically fly, and it can run at any time to boot.
