No, the spit has always turned well in this game.
You are thinking of the hurri, when the game was released nobody really flew the spit as it was too slow the hurri was faster but not as manoeuvrable as the spit (and it should be more so) this led to some "balance" with a hurri/109 fight.
Now the hurri is slower than the spit and still doesn't turn better, the 109 has always being fast but turns like a half paralysed dog in this game.
So now we have a 109 and hurri with buggered up manoeuvrability and a fast and highly manoeuvrable spit
only the dive and climb are better in the 109 which is why blues only boom and zoom...