I think you're confusing raycasting with hitscan. They're very similar. Hitscan does that light-speed-line thing you're describing and instantly delivers a "bul

I think you're confusing raycasting with hitscan. They're very similar. Hitscan does that light-speed-line thing you're describing and instantly delivers a "bullet" along it. Raycasting instead takes the light-speed-line information and runs some process like "What could we do to make this play out convincingly?" Then based on that information, it adds the gravity effects and other stuff to what plays out. You might raycast right before a jump to determine what landing animation your player will ultimately use. That's important during the jump because it makes it look more convincing.