I will quickly say this. Im really really on the fence whether the GR4 is 12.0 or 12.3 worthy.
Im currently placing it about 12.16. BOL imo just barely pushed it over the line. Its by far one the weakest 12.3s in the game currently, but the huge supply of CMs, All-aspect MAWS and great RWR is enough to keep you mostly safe.
I’ve done a few matches in ARB in it and fairly consistantly walked away with 1 base kill + 1 A2A kill and more than a few near second kills. People just under estimate it, completely. Between the new FM and the 9Ms people are still use to it being the DOA overladen bus we had for 18 months
With the right buffs like BOL overhaul, FnF Brimstones (purely thinking ARB/ASB ground pounding here) and other general tornado buffs like FM improvements, ECM and even the radar stuff. I think it can sit reasonably comfortably at 12.3. Though compression and ARB gamemode design are never going to be overly kind to it and short of lowering it to 11.0, its always going to be a challenging aircraft in ARB
Now whether the GR1 would be a strong 11.7 but still an 11.7 or a very weak 12.0 with 9M is honestly a question I dont think can ever be answered at this moment without trying it, and I just fear we’d regret it. So Id personally prefer the 11.3 BR with 9Ls for it, I think in the long run, it would just be far healthier for it.
Maybe in the future we could get an Op Granby Tornado Gr1 with 9Ms and JP233s :P
Edit: Quick case in point. Just did a quick match, 1x F-18 kill with 9M, 1x F-16 kill with guns and would have had a base kill if I didnt mess up the drop. Could have maybe come away with an F-4 gunkill if i didnt miss judge a slight hill and crash. So I think the GR4 is fine for now. GR1 though, needs buffs
Edit 2: Another match, 2x Aim-9M kills, 1x Mig-23 and 1x F-16, with 2x base kills with an RTB between. So yeah, its fine for now at 12.3, definetly needs some buffs, though nothing overally GR4 specific