Yes, Tom, that is essentially what Bryce Lighting does.  It's sort of like one machine does rows 1-30 and the next machine does rows 30-60, and on down the line.

Then, you can just reassemble the finished render into one piece.  That's an inelegant way to describe it, but that's more or less the way it is.  And, if it is not working correctly, you get just what is being described because one or more machines do not do their work and you get gaps.

Could be worse, could be raining.