Yeah I know it's supposed to be called god rays or ray of god, it just depends on what object it's used on.
Some pictures here show that its casted on models (the plane) :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4625192...7623021332077/ (pictures from me playing WoP on PC).
Well about if it's looking real or not, since I've been flying quite a lot in my life I would say that with so much intensity, no, it doesen't look like that exactly, but you can see it many times on a bright day.
Where you see it most is when there is loads of clouds and the sun over it, then you'll see rays of light instead of shadows.
The effect in the game gives one nice avantage : the scenery has much more depth, just like what happened on our screens with cloud shadows on the ground with vanilla Il-2.
WoP uses that effect on your plane in a much better way HAWX does, and it looks much more real.
I believe using that effect like what WoP does on both planes and clouds would really make SoW look great and real. Afterwards, if you can activate it or not with an option is always the best choice for everybody!
I remember this screen :
who does?