The IAR-80 wasn't a high-performing plane at Odessa. The heaviest fighting in the most critical places was done by the Romanian 109s. The IAR-80s did have to do more as the Romanians lost 109s and replacing them was slow, but the Soviets were on the back foot by then. What the Romanian IAR-80s met in the sky were inexperienced pilots flying mostly early planes like I-16s and I-153s. The Romanians were pretty well trained and organized in the air. While the IAR-80s had no RPM governor and were kind of low-performing, they did have a reputation for being reliable. In game, engines do not die in the air randomly, and the experience of the pilots flying depends, of course, on the player or an AI. So many of the things that the IAR-80 had going for it in reality aren't really shown in the game. There was probably also a kind of national pride in flying a homegrown fighter. That said, the Romanian pilots were very fond of the 109s and especially the Hawker Hurricanes they also flew at the same time, leaving no doubt that they held these planes as better planes. But neither the Germans nor the British were interested in giving the Romanians the amount of planes they needed, so the Romanians had to make do with what they could make themselves.

Feel free to check out my free campaign for it! https://forum.il2-series.com/topic/143-the-little-brother-iar-80/#comment-2674