You know that you can use a combination of LODs and Nanite right? It also seems strange for you to make statements like “That’s not helping the multitude of games with butchered performance using the current iterations”. No one is forcing you/them to use UE5. UE4.27 exists for a reason. UE5 is a work in progress. If you want the engine to be mostly complete, wait until UE 5.20 before you use the engine. It’ll likely be ready in 2026.
Also, I just converted my entire level to using Nanite and although it did drop my FPS from 90 down to 45 immediately after I made the switch,I switched back to regular Shadow maps, waited a few minutes and the performance picked up. Then I restarted the editor and my FPS was back at 90. This was using UE 5.3.
Like I said, try switching back to Shadow Maps instead of Virtual Shadow maps. I’ll bet this improves your performance.