I feel ray-tracing is a graphics feature many don’t know they want until they experience it. It is really amazing to see firsthand, imo. Generic reflections/lighting/shadows just don’t compare. Some games often fake them quite well, for sure! But ray-tracing is another level, imo.
Ray-tracing would have skyscraper building windows accurately reflecting the surrounding environment. Shoreline water, lakes, and ponds accurately reflecting the surrounding world. Accurate airplane window reflections, etc. I think ray-tracing brings better shadows, lighting, etc., in general, too.
The game does a lot of this stuff great, but I don’t think it’s nearly as accurate as it would be with ray-tracing. For example, the current game has these anomalies, if we can call them that…
Sky/clouds reflecting underneath the wing?
Not many runway lights reflected in this jet:
I don’t have time to try and find a bunch of examples, but I’m sure over time I’ll see some more glaring opportunities for ray-tracing, and shortcomings of the currently-implemented tech.
That said, this game is an absolute technical marvel. Obviously, ray-tracing would be a sort of ‘icing on the cake’ thing at this point. But would help make the worlds feel even more realistic and alive, so to speak