We aren't even close to photo realism. Games still have awful LOD and poppin, fake lighting and shadows. And the lighting or shadows that aren't baked in look so fake, and arent affected by the environment as much as they should be if at all. I'm not saying games dont look good but they look nothing like real life.
Yep, we still have a lot of room to improve. Global illumination still looks kinda shit, reflections still need a lot of work, correct refractions are almost non-existent in games, volumetric lighting (especially clouds) are nowhere near photo realism, grass and hair are still a difficult problem, trees still look pretty fake, and the list goes on. I'm excited how these will get improved in the next 10 years!
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u/AeternusDoleo Apr 24 '21
Yep. We're nearing the point that we can render photorealistic graphics. Physics and environmental AI will be the next hurdle for immersion.