Better damage? Not based on what is known so far. The damage model for the Impreza was universally frowned down upon and the damage model ( or rather paint damage model ) for most of the cars is the most bare bones it could possibly be.
By comparison the Damage model in Forza is universal for all cars and far more accurate mechanically.
GT5 will have a uiniversal damage model, but only race cars will loose doors and bumpers. The damage model is currently in development and journalists already saw the new damagemodel and were very impressed.
Better Physics? How can it have better physics when cars don't step out, there is no tyre deformation, the collision physics need serious work and you are still able to wall grind at 150mph and accelerate while doing so.
Cars do step out! (did you ever play GT5 Prologue with a wheel and all driving aids switched off?) tyre deformation is totally overhyped, just because Forza 3 has tyre deformation represented visually does not mean that the physics engine of GT5 does not calculate these aspects. I prefer GT5P physics over the Forza 3 demo physics, because Forza 3 felt too easy and still has the negative sides of Forza 2, which had to much oversteering.
As i said, its opinion.
I can think of many areas in the physics area that Forza does better than GT but I can't think of a single area that GT does better than Forza. Can you? Name it.
Yes, I can think of so many areas where the physics in GT5 are superior, can you? Name them.
- understeering and oversteering feels more accurate in GT5P
- force feedback feels better on GT5P (the Microsoft wheel is rubbish, so the force feedback might be better with a propper wheel, but i never played Forza with a Fanatec wheel) It makes GT5P feel much more realistic, because you can really feel what the car is doing and you get a better feedback from the road and the curbs.
- The reaction of the suspension in GT5 feels much more realistic, though i must admit, that jumping (especially the landing) on the Eiger track is awkeward somehow.
Better tuning? The tuning in GT is far from accurate, it is based on power multipliers and doesn't take into account how when you improve one area you can decrease another. Also if you look at previous games in each series, Forza simply offered MORE parts that could be tuned. Will that be true for GT 5 and Forza 3? We don't know yet.
I know, there is not much known about the possible tuning features, but Kaz said you can basicly take appart a car and modefy pretty much everything. Tuning was very good in GT4, you could fine tune nearly everything, so thats a part of the series that has allways been good. I assumed that GT5 will be superior, because i felt that GT4 was superior to Forza. I dont compare it to Forza 2, since this is a diferent Generation, but Kaz said GT5 will feature telemetry aswell, so you can clearely see every change in performence and GT5P already featured tuning while you are driving.
You also forgot to mention AI at all. I have little doubt as to which game will be superior in this area.
Both games had problems with the ai, but GT5 will feature 16 cars on track, which requires a good ai.