RAW really has no look whatever. It is simply the raw, unprocessed data off the camera's sensor. It serves as a container to transport the data to a RAW processing program like Adobe Camera RAW(ACR), which lets you do anything to it. Since it is completely unprocessed, all the settings are for all practical purposes, just random.
The advantage is that ACR has far better processing built in, than can be embedded in the firmware of your camera. You can interact with the information with very fine control. As it emerges from ACR, it is equivalent to having just been processed by the camera - except you get to set the exposure, contrast, colour balance, noise reduction and so on, to your precise needs, rather than just choosing broad menu items.
Basically, it is RAW until you cook it.
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