The Karplus Strong technique, a method for simulating string tones, has been around for a long time, since the 80s or so. KarplusStr has done bowing surprisingly well for a while. Plucking, not so much.

Long attack with a short decay/release gives a very convincing bowing sound on nicer synths, but once you increase the attack to create plucking sounds, the synthetic nature of the tone becomes far more obvious.

I currently use a raspberry pi with Pianoteq as sound output for my digital piano. It got a reluctant stamp of approval from my pianist son, although of course he prefers the physical response of even a poor acoustic piano.