IMO the typical metallic workflow in games just not physically accurate enough for certain kinds of material features. Especially grainy materials which may include shiny grains of sharp shape. Those that are not exactly micro surface imperfections roughness is representing but not big enough to take more than single…
Agree with gnoop. PBR is a set of guidelines which help you make content that "just works" in many cases under most lighting situations. But it can certainly be bent to fit your needs, and doesn't work for all material types, just the majority. I'm in weekly conference calls with rendering engineers, working on PBR…