The bottom is ugly as hell with all the CA. Blurry as hell. Like looking at something without your glasses on. Why not compare it to other space games? Chorvs or even Rift Apart (well RA lets you turn off CA) Chorvs can have it but in motion so fast it's hard to notice. Side note Chorvs is what Starfox Reboot should be in many aspects with Gameplay. Not aesthetic.

A game that wows me despite being a few years old now is Nex Machina. Sure it's not top-of-the-line tech but I think of its inspirations like Robotron. Of course, Eugene Jarvis consulted on Nex Machina and there is so much happening on screen. Much like seeing Resogun vs Defender. Doom 1993 vs Doom Dark Ages.

Simulation Theory/Hypothesis suggests we will one day reach a point that you cannot discern a simulation (game) from real life to the point that we cannot even now discount that we are not already in a simulation. Imagine we are the simulants from The Sims in 2100.

And given the immense increase in simulation capabilities in just the past few decades as evidenced by the examples provided here, there is no doubt that, barring a catastrophic pausing event, simulation capabilities will eventually match the perceptibility of our reality.

I simply compared the first game I ever played (and a technical showpiece for its time) with my personal pick for the best looking game available today.

A better comparison how far we've come already

1979



1993




2006



2020

It's far from perfect, best viewed at this altitude going slow enough for streaming to keep up. (Needs up to 150 mbps to stream the photogrammetry data needed from the server while flying in a small propeller plane) But it's real time graphics, real world data.

What will it look like in another 14 years. Draw distance still needs to be vastly improved at higher altitudes. Detail still needs to be vastly improved closer to the ground. (They added helicopters, not recommended to try to land on a roof or the ground in photogrammetry areas)

Night lighting still looks very rough and unrealistic, also due to the draw distance. Just too many light sources for current hardware. Clouds can still be improved a lot as well as weather effects. Snow accumulation, rain having an effect on the terrain, rivers actually flowing. Basically still tons of room for improvement to make the world feel alive.

However display capabilities are already ahead of our knowledge of the Earth. This is what Northern Canada looks like

Satellite data quality varies a lot. Africa, Russia, China are all very rough as well as parts where it's mostly cloudy. And Antarctica is mostly missing.

Yet at times it can trick you into looking at a photo (If it weren't for the big jet sitting where it don't belong)

Somewhere in Scotland

Photogrammetry will keep improving. And is an area that can make great use of AI tools. Just like FS2020 already does to populate the world with trees and buildings based on satellite data.

Waiting for the tech to mature enough to have a driving game with the detail of FS2020 on ground level. Drive through any city, crazy taxi style, street racing, truck simulator and so on. Or GTA in your city of choice.

I was simply speaking from my own personal experience, on the progress I've seen in my own lifetime; the first video game I ever played (which was a showcase for the time) vs a current year showcase.

First I played was space invaders, black and white, I think on an early Atari system.

Anyway that current year showcase shows there's still a lot of room for improvement. It will be great when game developers stop trying to emulate realism with (bad) lens effects. Ditch that crutch to hide the 'flaws'. PS3/360 everything had to be brown and monochrome for realism, now it's like looking through dirty cheap lenses. Hence stylistic games still win over 'realism'.

Graphics can keep evolving for many decades to come. Holographic displays will come at some point then holographic projectors :)

First I played was space invaders, black and white, I think on an early Atari system.

Anyway that current year showcase shows there's still a lot of room for improvement. It will be great when game developers stop trying to emulate realism with (bad) lens effects. Ditch that crutch to hide the 'flaws'. PS3/360 everything had to be brown and monochrome for realism, now it's like looking through dirty cheap lenses. Hence stylistic games still win over 'realism'.

Graphics can keep evolving for many decades to come. Holographic displays will come at some point then holographic projectors :)