I just did a test at KTEX.
With an OAT of -3 °C / 26 °F (which is ISA at 9000 ft) I can only hover IGE with carb heat set to cold.
With carb heat cold I can take off normally from the IGE hover.
With carb heat on auto I need to do a running take off, but still manage to get airborne.
Bear in mind that you need a very stable hover, in reality unnecessary pilot input will greatly increase your power requirements in a hover (not sure how accurately this is modeled in the sim).
But overall I feel like everything feels very accurate and that the relative power requirements for the different phases of flight seem to be realistic.
The only thing that throws me off is the power indication of the multiple limit indicator (MLI), but I have already created a bug report for that.