Owning an XRS for 6 months, I am very pleased with my purchase and look forward to many years of trouble free of ownership.
Corolla XRS puts out hits peak torque twice at 4400 rpm and 6800 rpm while GT-S gets the peak torque at 6800 rpm only while in lift.
The GT-S is a bit stronger at the top end than the XRS primarily because of lighter weight i,e 2522 vs 2650 lbs (although, both of them put almost the same HP to the wheels. Don't ask how).
XRS feels powerful across the rev range while GT-S has all it's power concentrated above 6200 rpm. So XRS has good power for city driving and then when you push it above 6500 rpm it really goes crazy up to 8400 rpm.
XRS redline starts at 8250 rpm while GT-S starts at 7900 rpm. Although, both of them have the rev limiter at 8400 rpm. Although, 02 and 05 GT-S have the rev limiter set at 7900 rpm. Again, don't ask me why. Toyota does weird things.
GT-S lift kicks in a bit earlier than the Corolla XRS at 6200 rpm while XRS lift kicks in at 6600 rpm. Those are the major differences.
XRS insurance (from personal experience) is no different than my 04 Corolla S while GT-S is a two door sports coupe so insurance is higher.
Compression is the same 11:5:1 in both of them.
Both of them have the same fuel economy and require minimum of Octane 91.
XRS has a few differences such as, it uses different injectors, new generation lift bolts that are very robust and do not need to be replaced. A problem that was pertinent to earlier Celica GT-S (00,01) where lift bolts needed to be replaced after 20k miles or so.
The 06 XRS is due next month. Not sure what changes they will make, but probably it will be the same as the 05.