I agree with you. Light and shadows make the engine look good at your screen shot. Lighting is the most important part. Even with missing shadows a good lighting can make it.

Because of that I like the soft shadows of level geometry in GS. I hope we get the same with models and the new adaptive binary tree.

Shaders are another option to go. A good shader (at least good Phong lighting) can make a picture better. A model without lighting looks flat. Only light and shadows can create an illusion of depth. Every painter knows that.

But I have a good feeling. All what I can read in the future section sounds fantastic and the new render kernel already works with stunning speed. But speed is only one issue. The artists need light and shadows. I cannot stress this enough. This is important and should not be left in the category of "medium priority" points.