The VK 45.01 (P) is a premium gift German heavy tank. It was introduced in Update 1.45 "Steel Generals" as a reward vehicle for the 2015 "War Thunder Fulfills Your Wishes!" event.

The VK 45.01 (P), like the Tiger H1, is a heavy tank with a great gun for long range firing. It has the same amount of armour and the same gun as the Tiger H1 and same ammo selection. Size-wise, the VK 45.01 (P) is slightly longer and slightly narrower than the Tiger H1. Despite the similarities, the VK 45.01 (P) is often called a "worse tiger". When played right however, this is not so at all. The main weakness of the VK 45.01 (P) is that it has hull cheeks on the front of its hull. Attempting to angle your armour will only allow the enemy to shoot these weak points, which they can easily pen as they have the same armour values as the side armour. In other words, if fighting an enemy, you should either take cover or turn the front of your hull directly towards them. Because the hull cheeks are angled compared to the front armour, if your hull is facing directly towards the enemy the hull cheeks will have more effective armour than your frontal armour, so they are not a weak point when the tank is not angled. The turret traverse speed is also slow, slower than that of the Tiger H1, meaning it's better to snipe with this tank.

But what the VK 45.01 (P) lacks in effective armour and turret traverse speed it makes up for reverse speed and a few other advantages. Firstly, the transmission is harder to hit since it's mounted in the rear- you will be harder to immobilize. Secondly, the turret is placed at the front of the vehicle, so it doesn't need to expose as much of the tank when peeking out of cover to shoot an enemy. These two advantages go great with its next, and biggest advantage: its phenomenal reverse speed. Because of this attribute, the VK is better for Peek-a-Boo tactics (behind cover, over-extend and shoot, go back in cover to reload). than the Tiger H1. Whereas the Tiger H1 can angle and take more shots, the VK 45.01 (P) is much better at shooting from and retreating into cover, essentially meaning it doesn't have to take those shots in the first place.