Honestly I suggest you download the game, enable ray tracing, and compare them side by side using your own screenshots, because I don't think you're remembering Witcher 3 properly
The Witcher 3's environments look much more detailed than Ghost of Yōtei in many areas. Just look at the geometry, grass density, vegetation, trees, rocks, and overall environmental detail. The world is much denser and packed with far more visual complexity and variety of assets
Then compare cities like Novigrad. There is an huge amount of detail everywhere: unique buildings, narrow streets, interiors, props, and layered architecture. Ghost of Yōtei doesn't come close to that level of environmental complexity. Much of what we've seen consists of open grasslands and fields with relatively little structural detail with constant invisible walls everywhere, the world is not fully explorable like in the Witcher 3
Ghost of Yōtei has a beautiful art style, but from a graphical standpoint it's actually quite simple. Many of the environmental assets are fairly basic. It creates a very attractive overall image, almost like an impressionist painting. From a distance, everything looks stunning, but once you start looking closely at the details, you begin to notice the limitations in the assets, geometry, and environmental complexity.
I'm convinced a 100% that The Witcher 3 with ray tracing is the more impressive-looking game overall. Yotei might be prettier but in terms of raw graphics, Witcher 3 its better and obviusly I am talking about the Next Gen version
EDIT
look at the quality of the rocks and the grass and stones