Systems and methods for modeling acoustic and lighting to provide improved immersion in a virtual reality and/or augmented reality environment are provided. In one aspect, systems and methods are provided to promote “improved augmented reality” which increases the realism and/or presence of virtual objects in the user's real environment. In some embodiments, changes in the user's actual room lighting are modeled in the virtual world to have a similar effect. In other embodiments, systems and methods are provided to promote immersion of a user in a virtual environment by extending the virtual world into the user's real world room. In this embodiment, lighting and/or sound from the virtual world is used to simulate the same or similar properties in the users actual, or real world environment, thereby improving virtual reality.