No, you can not. The P-51D, as modeled in the game, is physically incapable of sustaining as quick a turn rate or as tight a radius as the SpitXVI can. The only way in which the P-51 is capable of out-turning a Spit16 is if they are both above corner speed and g-limited rather than lift limited, and the P-51D decelerates more precipitously to its corner velocity. This presumes heavily upon the incomptetence of the Spit driver and is at best a short-lived advantage in any case.
You are (quite willfully, I believe) trying to muddy the issue of hard-wired plane performance with the random factor of pilot skill.
I have probably gotten in more honest-to-God, 1v1 maneuvering fights with Spits and other "turn" aircraft while flying a P-51, P-47, or Fw-190 variant than almost anyone else posting in this discussion.
The other day I engaged a Seafire, who proceeded to go into a series of reversing turns as a defense-an attempt at scissors I suppose. I got off the throttle, put out some flaps, and simply shot him every time he crossed in front of my P-51's nose. If he had performed a rolling scissors instead, I would not have been able to follow. If he had simply slowed his own plane down to minimum speed in the scissors (much lower than that of my plane), I probably could not have stayed in trail. If he simply had sustained a turn in either direction, my nose would have been stuck in lag. It would be innacurate to say this player made gross mistakes-he was competely unaware of the fundamental techniques a dogfighter can make use of, and/or completely ignorant of the relative abilities of his plane and mine. I am NOT insulting whoever it was; Quite probably he has less total time in game than I log in an average week. This is the sort of encounter that leads to entirely specious claims from chest-thumpers about "out-turning" Spits with P-51Ds. This level of incompetence, however, is actually rare, and I expect this player will be quite dangerous in a Spit variant inside of a month's time.
And the bottom line is folks still want to perk what is essentially a 1943 plane because it did things well and was pilot friendly.
So get rid of it completely and give us a Spitfire XII from 43 or a Spitfire LFIXe with full span wings from 44. Would that make a difference? Is it the clipped wing that is such a big deal? That again is something that they did to Vs, the XII was all clipped wings, IXs, VIIIs and the XVI. The plane isn't even using the full boost it was using in 45.
You have a game that is essentially a tactical airwar game that has it's air combat flown at the optimal altitude for an LFIX/XVI Spit. There is a reason they put that engine in it, because the XVI was meant to be used down low. If you are going to fight down low against an LF Spit, expect it's going to be good.
So are we going to make a list of planes to be perked cause we don't like fighting them? Let's force everyone into birds that better suit our style of fighting?
There's nothing about a Spit XVI that convinces me we need to perk it.
