How is the new generation of synthetic turf different from that of the past?

Is there any difference at all?

For the past 50 years, artificial grass industry has gone a long way and products have been revolutionized several times, if you compare today's artificial grass from Megagrass with that of the past, they are day and night.
The original artificial grass product was more of plastic carpet, nothing looked or felt as grass. The second and third generations were bit taller and mimic to the real grass a bit better but still nowhere near the real grass. The forth generation artificial grass started with thatch in them which bring it closer to the real grass appearance and feel. Now Megagrass has its fifth generation artificial turf which is perfectly replicating the real grass with many shapes of fibers and multiple colors combination.
To put it in a simple way: you can easily tell the artificial grass from the past is "fake' with just a glance at it, but you won't be able to tell the difference between today's Megagrass and the real grass even you take a good look at them.

As the years go by, technology advances-- so does artificial grass. Companies worked very hard to improve the product to have its look and feel as close as the real one.

Good thing I live in an era where artificial grass looks real. I really love how it feels real and it's soft to the feet when walked barefoot.