Actually, it is hard to say how a steel fork would have fared.
It appears as if a significant amount of the damage was abrasion damage. The paint would have been toast. But, it depends a bit on how much of direct frontal impact it took vs a grinding/glancing side impact.
This may be one of those things that CF does poorly with, focal impacts and deep abrasion.
You could ask your new found friend if he would be willing to repeat the experiment with a steel bike.
Of course, we could all be sitting around here debating whether a steel fork with deep dents and scratches, and perhaps somewhat out of alignment would be rideable or repairable.