Not to stir anything up, just state another's opinion-

Dave Rock, a very competent AZ autocrosser who drives an '03 Celica GTS in STS, uses race gas for almost every event he attends. He puts it in, drives about 50 miles to get the ECU "used to" the higher octane, and races. He claims that not only can he feel the difference, but he'll break the tires loose when the big cam comes on in 1st.

:shrugs:

I don't know, as I've never tried race gas, but he firmly believes that his and our higher compression really benefit from higher octane gas.
Mind you, we only get 91 octane here in AZ as our best pump gas.