it was very very easy to notice graphical changes and small technological increases back then. Changing from 100 pixels to 200 pixels was a big deal. That's no longer the case. Graphical leaps are....for the foreseeable future, going to be in minor details, the texture on a pair of pants, how hair moves and interacts as individual strands, how lighting reacts naturally and reflects off surfaces. These are not things you just turn on a game and automatically go WOW! But they all come together to make the scene more realistic looking. You say wow when lightning strikes and the scene pops and looks natural and realistic.

'everyone' still has a PS4/Xbox one. Ps5's are literally only JUST coming into stock at a regular rate to support demand. Games are still being made for the PS4/Xbox one. God of war is on the PS4... You can only push a game so far when you still have to make sure it will be compatible and run on 10 year old hardware. When the PS4 and Xbox one are phased out, and games were no longer coming out for the old hardware, games will really be able to take advantage of the tech... Unfortunately it doesn't usually take over 2 years for a console maker to have enough supply to meet demand.

Sometimes the hardware/tech doesn't go straight into graphical advances like how that chair looks as a asset model, like the PS5/Xbox one hardware that now supports 4k resolution, at 60 frames per second (some at 120), with HDR and VRR. That alone takes a lot of the tech specs, being able to support that. If you don't have a TV that supports 4k @ 120 you also aren't taking advantage of the features of the game/console you are playing and so obviously it's not going to look as good as if you did have a TV that could. If games look disappointing to you, and you still have a 1080p cheap TV.... Thats not the console or the games fault (I'm not assuming you don't, just saying).

Lastly, a console is still always going to be "mid-range" hardware for the time. If you want those settings really cranked up...that's what a high end gaming PC is for, but in order to unlock the full graphical fidelity and frame rates of the game, be ready to spend ~$3,000. The $600 hardware, as good as it is for that price ($ for $ console performance is fantastic) is just not truly how good the game can look. And if you are upset about graphics not really keeping up with the "new gen" you should think how people with gaming PC's feel that are always like 7 years ahead of the "new gen", and games are being made with mid-range console hardware that only gets updated every 7-10 years in mind.