I have the new pods for the F4, and I tell you, it's really a preformance boost. Still, it doesn't solve the turning problem.
But the issue here is that I regularly get 5-6 kills per plane when I play Brits (Spit Mk.I, Hurri Mk.I and Mk.II), and just started getting 4+ with the modded F4, F4 Trop and E3 still have some trouble getting the number up.