Approximations are simply wrong, simply because they are only approximations. If they would be true, they would have to be exact, not approximations. An approximation may be accurate, useful, much better than other approximations, the best what is available today, but all this does not make them true. If we have no true theory, pity, but such is life. No reason to name the approximations we have true theories.
The limitations have not been obvious, they are the result of scientific research which has shown that they are wrong outside these limitations.
For example, in 1905 it was not known that SR is unable to handle gravity. Poincare has proposed in 1905 a special-relativistic theory of gravity. This theory of gravity appeared to be wrong. Einstein has found a better theory of gravity, which makes predictions which contradict SR, namely that light rays will be curved by gravity.
That Einstein's theory has singularities, solutions with closed causal loops, and is incompatible with quantum theory was also not known 1915, but has been found only later. So, no, these things are not obvious, they are well-known results of scientific evaluation of these theories.
And flat earth theory remains very successful in describing observations inside my living room, but even on the nearby soccer field. So, there is no confusion, I do not deny that SR and GR, as well as NT and flat Earth theory, have their domain of applicability as approximations. But this does not make them true theories. A theory which is true does not have limitations.
Ups, this should have been "incompatibility with quantum theory".
No. There was no such original intent for GR to be somehow limited.
This is an important difference between GR and my ether theory of gravity. In this ether theory, it is clear from the start that the equations are only a large distance limit, and will become invalid for an atomic theory of the ether.
You obviously mingle truth and empirical testability. If we cannot prove, with empirical tests, that GR is false, this does not tell us that GR is true.
I agree, the theories we have today are only approximations. They are not final true theories. And even if they are very accurate approximations, so accurate that we will be unable, for many years, to observe violations of these approximations, this does not make them true.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of physicists who think differently, in particular among string theorists there are a lot of people who think that string theory is some final, fundamentally true theory. Other people think that at least some parts of GR, namely the equivalence principle, are true fundamental insights, and not only approximations.
And, so what? Does this hypothetical map of the city tell us anything about the bottom of the ocean? Not? The map of the city is a useful approximation, fine, but not more.
The point of this picture is, of course, that nobody has claimed that this map is the city itself, and even less the whole Earth. So that the point made - that it does not describe the bottom of the ocean - becomes a triviality. But, so what, the triviality remains true.
And, quite different from this example, there are parts of modern scientific theories where it is not clear at all if they have limitations. What about, say, the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics? What about energy conservation? What about causality? Do they have limitations or not? Are they only approximations or are they fundamental truths? This is not clear or obvious. One can argue that they have limitations, and consider theories where these concepts are violated, but up to now we have no clear evidence that they are really violated, really have limitations.
I am not going to start into a line by line argument, when it appears from the start that you are fixated on your own bias. There are a couple, of what I see as errors in your position, that I will point out.
You seem to see or consider singularities as a fundamental component of GR...
When Einstein presented GR he was presenting a field description of gravity, beginning with SR and based on observations of the solar system, initially extending the implications to a prediction associated with the gravitational deflection of light. No singularities! This is a place where re-reading the rpenner quote in my earlier post would serve you well.., if you can set aside your preconceptions long enough to understand how it impacts the discussion here.
The concept of singularities came later as others applied his (Einstein's) field equations to extremes involving strong gravity.., which could only be arrived at by making assumptions about the fundamental origin of gravitation... Even though GR is a field description of the mechanics only, not the why or how. It is almost as if someone was having trouble setting aside the Newtonian assumption that gravitation was an attractive force.
However, the real point is that GR did not begin as a field description of a galaxy, the universe, or singularities. It began as a description of the gravitational field of our solar system. Within that context it has been a successful description and testable within reasonable limits... And so far it has passed those tests, which makes it an accurate field description of the gravitational dynamics of the solar system. Beyond that we speculate... And we sometimes have to incorporate things like dark matter and dark energy to keep the model in balance with what we observe....
... It is not just that within the context of this discussion SR and GR are approximations, all theories are at best approximations. And they will all remain approximation until we arrive at a true fundamental understanding of the how and why. Even then the big picture will likely be far too complex to do more than approximate how, the how and why results in all that we observe when we poke reality.
.... I am one of those who believe, note I did not say know.., that the equivalence principle is more than an approximation or some kind of happy coincidence. I'd even go as far as to say that over the last ten years or so, I have begun to believe that inertia and gravitation may be two sides of the same coin so to speak, which would explain the equivalence principle, as representing more than just a chance similarity.