History Main / LeadTheTarget

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}} games]], you're usually shooting from close enough range that the bullets fired might as well instantly teleport to their final destination. However, all of the guns in both games are projectile, meaning sniping from any kind of distance requires the ability to shoot where your target is going to be. Lilith, Maya, and Zer0 all have skills that increase bullet velocity to mitigate this, however.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'', during the archery contest, Applejack points out to Twilight that she needs to do this to hit the moving target: aim where it's going to be and not where it is.

* While not the spirit of this trope, it's definitely to the letter to try and play a multiplayer FPS with a particularly high ping. The server won't process your moves until a fraction of a second (or more, if the connection is bad enough) after you do them, so you may have to lead your target (and pray). This has been mostly averted by lag compensation, and is only common in older games like {{Quake}} and VideoGame/{{Doom}}. Still alive and well for players with satellite-based net, depending on the game.

* In MascotRacer games, such as VideoGame/MarioKart, this is the intended way to use unguided projectiles--nearly all of them are {{Painfully Slow Projectile}}s, so to get an accurate shot any further than point blank, you need to figure out how much time must pass for the projectile to reach its target and shoot where you think the target will be at that time. One notable exception is Ice in ''[[VideoGame/SegaSuperstars Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed]]'', which travels absurdly fast, though if the distance is sufficiently long, you will still need to lead the target. There is an Achievement/Trophy/Sticker for hitting an opponent ahead of you by 600 meters or more with Ice, which DOES require leading.

* In KartRacing games, this is the intended way to use unguided projectiles--nearly all of them are PainfullySlowProjectiles, so to get an accurate shot any further than point blank, you need to figure out how much time must pass for the projectile to reach its target and shoot where you think the target will be at that time.

* In ''BrutalLegend'', Eddie needs to help a neurotic bouncer operating a mortar cannon hit his targets, not only by spotting, but teaching him how to lead moving targets.

* In JLA #10 (Creator/GrantMorrison era), ComicBook/GreenArrow (Connor Hawke) uses this to defeat the Hologram [[TheFlash Flash]] of the Revenge Squad.

* ''VideoGame/SniperElite'', which puts you in the shoes of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin American OSS Agent and sniper]] in Berlin during [[WorldWarII World War 2]], had simulated gravity, wind, breathing, and bullet travel time. All except the travel time could be turned off.

** During WorldWarII, the US military purchased a large number of hunting shotguns and incorporated skeet shooting into the early stages of aircrew and naval anti-aircraft training, so that gunners would already be used to the idea of leading the target before they moved on to training with machine guns.

*** Despite the existence of automatic targeting solutions provided by computer, being qualified as a submarine captain in several navies still requires an officer to demonstrate that they can calculate a torpedo firing solution purely through periscope observations, a stopwatch, and manual calculation.

** Similarly, the ''AceCombat'' series and other games about fighters typically have a targeting reticule for the guns that indicate where the bullets will go. Very important when shooting while making tight turns.

* ''SniperElite'', which puts you in the shoes of a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin American OSS Agent and sniper]] in Berlin during [[WorldWarII World War 2]], had simulated gravity, wind, breathing, and bullet travel time. All except the travel time could be turned off.
* ''RedOrchestra: Ostfront 41-45'' has (fairly) realistic bullet and shell physics, requiring players to learn not only to lead their targets, but also to estimate ranges and compensate for bullet drop. Nailing a moving T-34 with a [=StuG III=] is ''hard''.

* ''FlyingHeroes'', a flight-based fantasy shooter for the PC, required that you lead your target. However, you could get an "Auto-Aiming" spell that would display a target for its duration to show where you ''should'' be aiming to hit.

* ''SteelBattalion'': 2nd-and-3rd-gen [[AMechByAnyOtherName VTs]] have the Forecast Shooting System (FSS), which can be toggled on or off. The game has a built-in aimbot of sorts when locked on to an enemy target that keeps the weapons trained on said target regardless of where the right stick has its reticle, and most of the weapons fire {{Painfully Slow Projectile}}s that can easily be dodged with a slidestep, so FSS helps quite a bit, but is not so good as to make it a ''GameBreaker''. Without it, the weapon aiming is not compensated at all, effectively forcing 1st-gen VT pilots to aim manually without lock-on.

-->'''Joker:''' 'ow can you shoot women and children?\\

* In ''Videogame/GunsOfIcarus'', unless you're at point-blank range, this is required for many of the weapons. This is especially prominent when using the Hades Light Cannon.

* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', this is important if you want to ensure that you hit a moving target, as the bullets have a slight delay before they impact on the foe.
** Well, for most of the guns. The ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'' BR and the ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' DMR are hitscan. For ''HR'', they've also basically killed the auto aim.

* This is the tactic one should use to play ''SpaceInvaders'' and other games of the like.

* This is the tactic we should use to play ''SpaceInvaders'' and other games of the like.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', Lakitu normally throws Spiny Eggs straight down, without any horizontal momentum or really aiming at Mario. However, there is a [[https://tcrf.net/Super_Mario_Bros.#Unused_Spiny_Egg_Behavior patch]] that unlocks some unused Lakitu behaviour that causes him take aim at Mario by taking into account the relative positions and speeds of himself and Mario. The added horizontal momentum also allowed the Spiny Eggs to bounce off vertical surfaces such as the sides of pipes.

* One of the stages in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3'' has frequent lightning strikes aimed in this way. When you see the lightning flash, slow down or TakeCover!

* In ''WorldOfTanks'', this is a necessary skill for hitting any target moving laterally in relation to you, as the shells take a second to reach their target.[[note]] They actually have drop and arc too, but these are accounted for in the reticle in sniper mode. In arcade mode you can actually arc HE shots over hills if you do it right.[[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', Lakitu normally throws Spiny Eggs straight down, without any horizontal momentum or really aiming at Mario. However, there is a [[https://tcrf.net/Super_Mario_Bros.#Unused_Spiny_Egg_Behavior patch]] that unlocks some unused Lakitu behaviour that causes him take aim at Mario by taking into account the relative positions and speeds of himself and Mario. The added horizontal momentum also allowed the Spiny Eggs to bounce off vertical surfaces such as the sides of pipes.

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* In ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'', Irontown's riflemen consistently do this while fending off San's [[StormingTheCastle assault]]. [[ImprobableAimingSkills They only miss]] because San is more agile than a superball on speed, but every last shot is millimeters off (and the last one [[spoiler:successfully blows her off her feet and stuns her]]). Additionally, Lady Eboshi specifically instructs the riflewomen flanking her to hold their fire while San [[IHaveTheHighGround is on the roof]], and aim for her landing spot instead.

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[[AC: {{Film}}]]

-->'''Joker''': 'ow can you shoot women and children?\\
'''Gunner''': [[AmbiguousSyntax Easy. You just don't lead 'em so much. Ain't war hell?]]

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[[AC: VideoGames]]
* The best-ever usage of this trope occurs in ''OperationFlashpoint'', in which, true to its realistic nature, you not only have to lead the target, but if you're using a sniper rifle, you even have to take into account elements like elevation and even ''wind resistance''. Needless to say, the game makes NintendoHard look like a walk in the park.

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* When Vegeta attempts to fight [[EvilOverlord Freeza]] in ''WebVideo/DragonballZAbridged'', Piccolo notes that none of Vegeta's {{Ki Attack}}s are landing because Vegeta is failing to do this.

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* This is how Fry loses the "real life" game of Space Invaders in the ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode "Anthology of Interest II".
-->'''Lrrr:''' ''Instead of shooting where I was, you should have shot where I was going to be!!''

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** By the time of the First World War (almost a hundred years ago), capital ships were engaging each other at ranges which their shells would take over a minute to cover. By the middle of World War 2, the British were masters of the art; HMS ''Warspite'' opened fire on an Italian battleship at over ''twenty six thousand yards'' and hit with a shell from the first salvo.
*** Radar-controlled gunlaying revolutionized the firing solution problem, and it was the reason why USS Washington and USS South Dakota sunk Japanese battleship Kirishima almost leisurely. Even later, the electronic computers superceded the mechanical fire control tables, turning naval artillery effectively into pure mathematics.

* ''MechWarrior 3'' had a rather extreme example in ballistics-only online matches due to the typical Internet connection at the time being dial-up. Every player could adjust to bullet lag fairly easily if you loaded a targeting computer, but to be competitive online, you needed to be able to accurately read how much lag there was and adjusting your lead accordingly.
* In ''BanjoTooie'', Banjo and Kazooie have to fight Klungo multiple times as a boss. The main source of his difficulty increase between the first and last encounters with him is that he'll throw his exploding flasks where Banjo is in the first duel, but he'll try to anticipate where Banjo will be in the last.

** Range (130 km) and flight time (three minutes) of the german Paris Gun meant Paris was effectively a (predictably) moving target due to the earth's rotation.

* Strongly implied in ''Film/TheAvengers'' by Hawkeye. One shot has him rather spectacularly looking at a target while apparently pointing his bow the wrong way. Careful analysis shows that he's aiming quite in advance of his (fast-moving) target to hit it dead on.

See HeroTrackingFailure for when the villains [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy fail to do this]] and WronskiFeint for a aviation variant.

This is called Leading (Or windage), and is a RealLife tactic and training method. It's why you use clay pigeon traps for hunting practice, and is a key element in air-to-air gun combat. VideoGames used to avert this trope with HitScan weapons, which were an AcceptableBreakFromReality because of engine constraints; hitscan weapons didn't so much use "bullets" as simply hurt whatever was under the player's crosshairs at the time, regardless of distance. The alternative was the PainfullySlowProjectile, where the player not only has to lead the target, but actually shoot the bullet ''past'' where the enemy is, so the enemy will indeed walk right into it. But today games are much more complex and realistic, and a more moderate form of leading the target has reasserted itself. Slower projectiles obviously need more lead time, and sniping can be a real nightmare. The hitscan model is sometimes retained when energy, laser or other lightspeed weapons are available.

Lasers, due to moving at the speed of light, should not be expected to follow this rule. Regardless, plenty of space combat games [[FrickinLaserBeams ignore this]]. Perhaps they are taking account of very long ranges - 20,000 miles is a tenth of a light-second - and absurdly high speeds; a ship moving at Earth escape velocity covers ''a lot'' of ground in a tenth of a second.