Counterpoint: I like pretty lights and don't mind having to play at a suboptimal framerate if it means more detail that I'm going to notice and enjoy.
Also, I keep seeing people confusing photorealism with a lack of style, when that's just not true. Pixar movies for example are photorealistic but stylized. You can have fancy lights and cool styles.
Pixar movies have accurate lighting which makes them look great. Lighting separates a good looking game from a great looking game and is more important than textures imo.
Main point aside, that isn't photorealism tho. Photorealism is depicting something almost identical to a real life photograph or simply what most consider realistic graphics.
I would consider photorealism to mainly be light-based (prefix photo meaning light), but I get what you mean. I'd consider photorealism and realism to be separate. "I can see that existing" vs "I can see myself being there"
A better example probably would've been claymation, or pokemon concierge.