hmm...
well... the most «realistic» way to light a scene in maxwell is using .hdr photographs since they use real colors and real light intensities. --> much more realistic than that *procedural* sky model built-in. no matter if biased or unbiased.
certainly with well-done compositing, a cloud system like vue's (which is impressive since years now !) or this real-time model can give very nice results.
i know, the discussion is endless since reproducing reality would take exactly infinitely computing power or at least the power to calculate light in real-time in gigantic scenes..... well, endless...
as already mentioned by other users, the vue-maxwell bridge or this software to maxwell, the benefit of a large amount of users would be enormous !
* * *
renderfarm ? yess !

but i guess i'll wait 3 more years until GPU-rendering with multiple parallel cards starts to become standard. certainly with the ported maxwell !
i know... for me, totally realistic renderings are a goal, but also easy-to-handle software packages that don't call for 20 other top-professionals in the team to get results.
i mean ... a cg film takes around 3 years to produce with 300 artists working 120% ... ! this is insane !
yes, i already mentioned *maxwell hollywood* some time ago ... hehe.
* * *
or do we only need direct-x 10 games and a level-editor ? hmmmmm ...