Forza 4 Aesthetics and optimizations

One of my tasks on this track was to go in and see what areas could be “improved” or given a face lift. This was all part of optimizing the track. I resized lightmaps, consolidated textures, fixed or adjusted specular maps, and assgined vertex lighting in areas where there was “flat” lighting and where a light map would be inefficient. While doing all this i noticed that the tarp on the left side of the track was a flat color. this is a track with lots of sunligh and bloom. I realised that there would be some translucency or sorts happening on this object. the texture was unique to this area and was rather small 256×256. I pinged the Art lead with a mock up and how the improvements would look – all at no performance cost!  He was rather excited and told me to PROCEED! :). see below for the before and after shots. Area on the left.