The leftmost example looks to me like four columns laid out using a vertical flexbox each. In fact, it looks like the very example that I saw people using saying "Look how the flexbox layout on the left doesn't line up the text boxes, but on the right the text boxes are all neatly aligned, isn't that nicer?"

I realize that the difference is that the items are laid out horizontally, i.e. photos 1-2-3-4 are all across the top, whereas with vertical flexboxes items 1-2-3-4 would end up in the first column (or you'd have to rearrange your divs taking the flexbox layout into account, which is often impractical).

But the gain from CSS Grid Lanes is not immediately obvious from looking at the first photo, as it's so very similar to the old "left is flexbox, right is grid" examples from when Grid was new.

I wonder when we'll get hexagonal lanes, triangular and Penrose tiling. Rest assured, there will be practically infinite set of features designers would invent. Language designers would do good takubg into account Scheme idea: language is good when there is nothing to remove.