Shadows are cast but no, I don't think Poser has anything truly equivalent at this time. The process simulates a more accurate light model, allowing for truly photoreal rendering. That's not to say raytracing isn't capable of that, it's just a different model - though as I said, there's debate about which method is better. You may want to take a look here:

http://www.maxwellrender.com/

 

and here:

 

http://www.indigorenderer.com/

 

And see what the apps do and how comparable you find the results to raytraced art. Keep in mind that with anything, you get what you give (or as we used to say in the old days: Garbage In Garbage Out) .

 

I'd say more but I'm really just a modeler. I don't do a whole lot of rendering and I don't want to give out misinformation. :)