I kind of skipped around a bit to avoid spoilers as best I could while getting what I thought was the important info, but the TL;DR from what I watched on is:
Graphics Mode targets 1080-1440p 30FPS with a combination of TAA, dynamic resolution scaling & a spatial upscaler (most likely AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0) being used to create a 4K output and it does hit 30FPS at almost all times with proper frame pacing.
Performance Mode (outside of cutscenes where it uses the Graphics Mode settings) renders at anywhere between around 720p to 1080p. Combat hits 60FPS consistently, but resolution & some graphics settings take significant hits to do so (exasperated by the shortcomings of the upscaler (which is how John determined the game is likely using FSR 1.0)). Exploration frequently drops below 60 & is often below the PS5’s VRR window of 48Hz so that won’t smooth it out. Performance Mode also doesn’t reduce quality settings as aggressively in exploration as it does in combat.
Unless you’re willing to sacrifice framerate consistency in exploration in exchange for a higher framerate in combat, Graphics Mode is recommended, you’ll likely get used to the 30FPS output in time as long as you stick to it & don’t switch back and forth between 30 & 60. John would like to see a 40 FPS mode added in a future patch, noting that this is one area where Forspoken beats FFXVI. Also would prefer to see a reconstruction technique implemented in place of their spatial upscaler.
The shadows in the game do seem to be rendered using Ray Tracing or an RT like technique such as Virtual Shadow Maps (seen in Unreal Engine 5). It’s definitely not using traditional shadow rendering techniques though.
The Grapes are very high quality, a night and day improvement over Endwalker’s grapes.
Overall, in spite of the Performance Mode issues, FFXVI is one of the most polished games to release this year in DF’s opinion