It is a bit hard to make comparison screenshots because you can't change settings while having the sim paused but I did try to compare the ultra shadow quality setting with the medium setting. I read that shadows can hurt performance. I did indeed see a huge difference in fps between ultra and medium but I did not see any quality difference...?
Is this a quality setting or more some kind of distance setting? Why can't I see no difference while fps is a LOT higher at medium?
While I am at it: why can't I change settings (for testing purposes) while the sim in paused? 
