ahh I remember that! The pedestrians were so comical, and iirc cranking them up to the max made the game laggy. I was more obsessed with stunts, trying to jump over the bridge when it was open, and breaking the windows of this one particular building.
I don't think i played motorcross madness but I def recognise the cover art. I think I bought a CD with that cover art from those shops which sell pirated copies of games and it turned out to be a sonic racing game instead!