It doesnt have slightly superior penetration then the IL2. Thats my point. I use the exact same tactics in the IL2, despite it having more ammo. Same angles, same distance. Often shooting between 100 to 200 meters. My convergances is set to 300 and you can see Im almost always within that envelope. Same, Same with the IL2. I used to have the IL2s set to 250. Its one or two volleys, in one pass, for the kill. Ive done it easily for every tank but the T-2.
Theres no way the guns/ammo are better then the NS-37s in this game.
Penetration doesn't mean a large ammount of damage. You can plug away with 76mm HVAP rounds from the T-34/76 at the front of a tiger, and not get a kill. Same with the M8's 37mm; it can penetrate the front hull armor of a Panzer IV H, but you'll need a lot of ammunition.
The problem with comparing the Il-2 and the 87G is that the IL-2's are firing much faster and landing more hits. I'm sure if you compared the number of hits for each aircraft to destroy any given tank, they would be fairly close.
However, the issue is that while it was rare for an Il-2 to kill tanks with guns alone (I'm not quite sure if there is even a single reliable example of a lone Il-2 destroying even ONE tank with guns alone, much less multiple tanks), however it was not rare for the Ju-87G-2 to destroy tanks with guns alone. Infact, I'm almost certian that guns-only attacks account for 100% of tank kills achieved by the Ju-87G-2, it being armed with nothing else.
So I suppose theres actually two questions here: 1) should the Il-2 be as effective as it is, and 2) is the Ju-87G underpreforming?
It seems to be, given that a Panzer IV is much more lightly armored to the sides and rear than a T-34, which was the Ju-87G's main victem, was.
@R105: I find that HIGHLY unlikely. Unless you're firing at extreme range, a T-34 should be a one-shot-kill with the Panther's KwK 42. And the Panther is most certianly not taking multiple side shots to destroy. It seems to be the most vulnerable tank in the game from the sides.
Film or we can only narrow it down to several possibilities: 1) you're BS'ing 2) T-34/76 and Panther are bugged, yet nobody's been freaking out about it (not very likely, especially with the latter tank 3) Hitech let skuzzy try his hand at coding.