as said, better for detonation and less liable to premature ignition etc.
will proberbly see about 1bhp more on a non mapped turbo car, and will be slightly better for the engine.
for me I use 95 seems to run fine, every so oftern I use a few tanks of 98 to give her a treat, but my car is unmapped so don't really see the point in 98, plus the amount of miles I do I couldn't be botherd to pay to constantly use higher ron fuels, however when it comes to map time I will be using higher ron fuels for around 3 weeks to make sure that I have a good quality high octane fuel in the tank and then will be using higher ron fuels.