If Vader was capable of this level of force usage, various events in the OT no longer make any sense.

@tbrookside That is the reason I am asking the question. It seems so out of place

@tbrookside, what scenes in the original trilogy would have changed? In ANH, aside form his fight with Obi-wan, he's not in a position to do anything similar (and he wants the Falcon to get away). In ESB, the only direct conflict he's in is his fight with Luke and he doesn't want to kill him. And the same is true for RTJ. When you look at films, for all his presence, Vader doesn't really do a lot.

Vader's role in the OT is really just a symbol. The Jedi is already defeated. He's more like the boogie-man than an actual enforcer. The entire "bring balance of the force" rests on him defeating Palpatine and coming back to the light side, so his greatest challenge is himself. Nonetheless, he probably has this level of power, but the Empire is already in control... there's no good reason for him to do the heavy lifting.

Remember Yoda's teachings: "Size matters not."

and VFX has gotten better over time

I thought this was going to be about his battle with Reva at the end where he was not using a light sabre for the majority of the fight but just blocking her swings with force push - something we never really saw him do in his numerous duels in the original trilogy.

@KeithMorrison If he can grab ships at the range demonstrated in this scene, he should have been able to destroy Luke's X-wing with the force and had no need to engage in a dogfight. And in ESB, he should have been able to prevent the Falcon from taking off from Hoth.

@DarrelHoffman I believe the implication there is that either (a) the other opponents were good enough that he couldn't do this (OT Vader vs. Obi was supposed to be like two seasoned samurai who knew each other too well to risk any wasted movement, as any such could create a fatal opening), and Reva just wasn't up to snuff (Vader fought Luke one-handed in their first fight, too); or (b) Vader was more invested in a total and demoralizing victory against Reva here than elsewhere; utterly crushing her little dreams of revenge. He was just messing with Obi-Wan earlier in this series, too.

@tbrookside All Star Wars scenes with Force wielders have demonstrated that regardless of their power, they aren't limitless. Yoda wasn't able to keep the pillar from falling on Anakin and Obi-wan and grab Dooku. Vader was caught flatfooted by the other ship. Vader was piloting his own ship, not just vaguely floating around, and so on. Aside from that, whatever limits there are have to be determined by the story, not reality.

@tbrookside Vader was Anakin, who loved being a fighter pilot. Using the Force in that situation would be Obi-Wan using a blaster against Grievous; so uncivilized. And way less fun. Vader also has to make sure he doesn't crash and doesn't get blasted by anyone else, like random Han Solos out of nowhere, so can't put all his focus into the Force.

Yoda lifted Luke's X-wing out of a swamp on Degobah in the original movies. Sure, it wasn't trying to fly away, but it was mired in a swamp, which would cause a similar degree of resistance.

Not exactly canon, but on some of the scenarios of the "Star Tours" ride at Disney, Vader does exactly that to try to keep "your" ship from escaping.

The Empire was known for the use of Excessive Force.

Additionally, Yoda explicitly states "Size matters not.", giving us the idea the there is no real limit for the force.

Also, the transport ship is a decoy. It's not supposed to get away. It was supposed to falter and crash exactly as it did, so while Vader is tearing into it, the other one does get away.

I think its just that the more a dark force user gets angrier the more powerful they get

@JesseC.Slicer - youtu.be/rx5St20MzE4?t=288 Indeed

With previously you mean "chronologically in-universe" or "previous Star Wars media"? Becaus IIRC Vader in comics is shown as a very, very powerful force-user that could perform such feature, but I'm not sure those happen before or after the Obi Wan series

@tbrookside Possibly Vader's Force powers degrade as he ages? Or the Emperor somehow placed a "governor" on Vader's powers to keep him under his thumb.