But, with damage types mattering, the realism goes up. Ranged weaponry on the whole is generally only going to be able to deal piercing damage. And in a fantasy world, its not unrealistic to say that fantasy creatures will have distinct resistances, if not active defenses, against such damage.
Ranged then becomes powerful and optimal when not resisted, and is balanced out by being suboptimal when it is.
And moreover, what this then lets you do is justify to players actually using both range and melee on one character, fulfilling the classic fantasy of Archer characters, which almost all of which seldom use only their bow.
Hawkeye, Legolas, Robin Hood, etc all swap into melee weapons when the time calls for it. With Ranged weaponry being as so shallowly powerful as they are in 5e, you can't actually emulate those characters without gimping yourself.