Yes, this subject has many faces. But let me focus for now in one of them (a small one). I'm including an image created just now with CATIA (a 3D CAD) to show that same "light reflection" (whatever may be the tech name). CATIA also uses OpenGL for RTR (real time render). And there is real time shadows also. So I don't think answer like "graphics card is not capable" fits in this case. The graphics card can do it and alot more.

Regard performance, CATIA also has an interesting approach. The geometry is tessalated (triangles) and you can control it. So when there are too many parts in the scene, and the graphics card starts to slow down, I just reduce the tessalation level.