BIZARRE TESTS THE LIMITS OF XBOX 360 HARDWARE

35,000 polygon spectators gather to watch PGR3 as the developer attempts to get the next-gen console to spew smoke and flames

Bizarre Creations has been trying to break an Xbox 360 by standing 35,000 (yep, that's 35,000) polygon spectators on the corner of a Project Gotham Racing 3 track. A screenshot of this frankly bizarre experiment can be seen top-right of this page (feel free to count heads to see if the number's a lie) and the developer says in a recent update on its community website that the whole thing was actually a test "to show how crazy our crowd rendering system is".
So it wasn't trying to break an Xbox 360 really. Was it?

Anyway, apparently the scene was rendered without a framerate hit, although we certainly won't be seeing 35,000 spectators on a single track corner in the final game. However, Bizarre does promise in the update that we can "still expect many thousands (yes, thousands) of spectators per track" and adds that "Seeing all of these virtual spectators shuffling around and waving their arms is a memorable sight.

"In the newer builds of the game some of the crowd have cameras, and if they're a few rows back you can see them holding it above their head before taking the photo. They've even got a flash! Remember all of these guys, gals, and even children are motion captured for extra realism."
Also touched on in the update are "the extra details added around the courses to make things seem more 'lifelike'", which aren't present in the test screenshot. Bizarre says we can look forward to "ambient traffic, camera crews, racing teams (complete with huge big rigs), massive spectator stands, etc. etc." And apparently if you're feeling particularly eagle-eyed you'll be able to spot a few Bizarre Creations staff members in the crowd (assuming you know what they look like of course) along with Bizarre t-shirts.

More from the world of the Bizarre soon, no doubt.