I think there are cases where we are there now: http://www.gamesradar.com/star-wars-battlefront-photorealism...

No we are still not there and will not be for a long time. But with time we will get closer and closer.

No we wont, its no longer paying off to invest that much.

Write a bunch of new shaders - nobody notices anything. Write a good procedural content generator- suddenly applause. The gfx-race is over- it died a horrible death on the plateau beneath uncanny valley. Its a real shame, cause the technology invented is just so neat- but that is how it is.

Battlefront just won a ton of awards due to tech they created for that game that makes the terrain look amazingly realistic. It seems like people still notice.

Have you seen the clothing of the man who fires?

Clothes is one weak point with real time CG today. Another is grass, trees.

There is a reason there is no green in those pictures, and they try to only draw people in rigid suits.

I didn't say for everything and in all cases, but there are cases where you can't tell. GTA V and Battlefront both can produce screenshots with tons of detail (including foliage) that are near imperceptible from reality.

Where games struggle today is hair, skin, and soft fabrics, but there are already good implementations for those that should show up in the next generation game engines.

This will always been an iterative process, but there are times today (and I honestly feel like this just became the case within the past year or so) where games look like reality.

Obligatory: http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/13692/1386568...