I disagree. Radiosity may be what you want. I'd do a GI render and a GR render of the same scene and compare. WIth the correct "User" render settings, you can optimize GR render time - though it will always be longer than an optimized GI render.

In an outdoor scene, GR is usually not useful. But indoors, where light toned surfaces are near each other, the indirect light (not just its color) reflected and re-reflected (not just once) from surfaces to other surfaces can be much more realistic. Radiosity shows the actual light power in a scene, not just the rays-struck surfaces. It's especially effective where objects are hidden from direct light. Notice the yellow ball:

Is GR overkill? The artist must decide.

BTW, here i boosted the color reflection way more than you normally would, since that was part of the discussion i made this scene for.