Hey, would it be a big difference if we vent back to the intake instead of venting into the atmosphere? If so, why?

Not much of a difference IMO. If you route it in front of the turbo intake, it may help the turbo spool/stay spooled.

There's no real need to since you have a map sensor. The only time you have to recirculate is when you have a maf like the 4g63. The only benifit that you might get by recirculating is if you are using a diverter valve like the stock 1g bov that stays open under vaccuum to allow air to bypass the turbo which will give a car a little more power when off boost.

I noticed a big difference when I stopped venting to atmosphere.

All the girlies stopped drooling. :+

Venting back into the intake and blowing it towards the compressor wheel can decrease loss of spool during shifts. It makes a .1-.2 (consistantly) difference in times for a 4G63 car with a VPC, so it should make a similar difference for us.
-=B-=