I own 2005 models of the VFR and FJR, and couldn't be happier about having that pairing.
Guys have posted good comparative of both different and similar. Some stand out to me in that I very much agree, disagree, or "maybe just see it differently."
Torque: Wow! The FJR has what I've always wanted. It doesn't require a different riding style, but rather allows one. That's valuable to me as a Sport Tourer who gets around the country to ride different and distinctly new roads. With the FJR, I can kind of "poke my head into a new corner", the Slow In part, and discovering what it's all about, when then prudent, make a quick shout down to the engine room to add more coal, and come flying out the other end of the corner. That's both great fun, and also allows High Average Speeds - a big part of the longer distance part of Sport Touring. And do that with lots more Margin in hand than on other, more "finiky" bikes.
I don't really find a Handling superiority to the VFR. It's only a small amount quicker (but not lighter) steering. It does show a heavier FJR weight needs to get warped around when making full left/right or right/left transitions, but the FJR bars make initiation of such easier, and the lesser lean angles "we" tend to use all together make the maneuvers sufficiently pleasant. Cornering speeds and lean angles of the VFR are, or can be, "faster/greater", but that's not "superior" in itself. The abilities of both Complete Packages to cover a given long piece of ground are very similar. I have the VFR because of how it feels doing that - different from the FJR, perhaps even better subjectively to some folks, but not superior in my mind.
The FJR posesses a Versatility the VFR does not: It's range of address, at widely desireable levels, is greater. I'm amazed at how swaping the stock '05 windshield for my +4+4 Cee Bailey screen seems to transform the bike way over toward "a comfortable touring bike". There are a broad range of riding positions available on the FJR, right on down to "forward, down, and inside", almost identical to what I can get into on the VFR. Yet, "almost as upright as a BMW RxxxxRT" is also available. In that position, with the big windshield, the amount of work to do a 600 mile day seems to me to be about 75% to 80% of that needed to ride that far on the Interstate on the VFR. On the other hand, a 450 mile day from Moab to Gunnison, at Sport Touring Pace, is also very likely to be less tiring than on the VFR. Only the shorter, more intense pace rides really, to any great degree I mean, favor the more compact Honda.
I find the VFR is also versatile. Set up with aftermarket parts, it can be a ferrocious cornering bike, very nearly at the level of current 750 weight sport bikes. The additional weight that keeps it from being an absolute top performer has been put to good use to provide comfort across riding distances only the most vigorous riders would ever engage their Sport Bikes in. Perhaps it is justa as broad in the situations it can address as the FJR - only it's range of scale is slid down the total spectrum toward Sporting.
As far as Touring goes, when Gold Wings get folded into consideration, I start heading for the door. Touring is not solely done on Interstates. US Highways, State highways, secondary and even terciary roads are all fair game -- and far more attractive than the "big roads" I end up spending far too much time on. Out There, a Gold Wing becomes a Tragic Impediment. One of the major motorcyle magazines once chose the R1150RT as "Best Touring Bike", stating generally that what it didn't have (as a Touring Bike) "we" didn't need. And I'd add to that, most of those things absent would very much get in the way for me. But, we all get to choose the "How" of our bikes. A Gold Wing certainly might please folks more than other lighter bikes for their own kind of Touring.
I continue to be so very happy to have both the VFR and FJR, perhaps most so because they are able to be warped further apart with accessories. Both of my bikes comfort as well as performance enhancements with the reverse emphasis on Sport-verus-Tour to even further strengthen what they are better at.
I do not imagine I'd be missing much were I to swicth to an FJR from a VFR, knowing as I do that we tend to "mellow" with age, and our interests expand and can be met with bikes that "reach further".
I also know I'd be thrilled by the shift to a VFR. I would be if I had not already been to that place in my riding history. Well, I have been, and I loved it. And I'm going to keep it too, right along with "moving on" to different and and bigger places an FJR seems to be able to take me.
Best wishes.
