Is this true? Did they really go back to flat cardboard cutout crowds?
This is amazing. Not just the billboard aspect. It's maybe 6 different, disinterested people photographed once and pasted dozens of times trackside. They just did a quick color change in Photoshop. These are photos of people at a mall's food court waiting for their pizza. The have no business being trackside at Forza. It's a bizarre and amazing creation.
Surely there was a cubicle of programmers and artists blushing when they finalized these people into the game. And eventually one person got the giggles because of the absurdity of it and, as we all know, the giggles are contagious so that cubicle became full of the sound of teary-eyed "I can't breathe! Ah it hurts!" type of laughter. "Wow we're really doing this! hahahaha oowww man!"
Finally they catch their breathes, shrug their shoulders, wipe their eyes.
"Ah man months and months and here's how we end it. I'll never forget this crunch time. Fun times. Send it to the boss and make it gold. Time for some sleep!"