Proto:Gran Turismo 2

The demo version of Gran Turismo 2 was present on the disc that came with Issue 27 of The Official US PlayStation Magazine (although it was later given away with other demos too, for instance the bonus disc included with the Music at the Speed of the Sound, the US soundtrack album). The latest gzip archive header date on the disc is 29/7/1999 (July 29, 1999), at least four months earlier than the Japanese arcade disc.

As is to be expected, there are lots of differences between it and the released Japanese game.

Removed
A number of car models and texture sets were removed by the time the game was released in Japan. The "earlier version" cars are duplicates of other cars in the demo but with unique models, textures, and different references and codes (see roster below).

As well as cars, another non-car model exists in addition to the arcade loading background that is still in the final. This was subsequently removed. It revolves much faster than any cars.

Differences
Apart from being removed, some cars had design and/or texturing changes before release. Cars whose changes amounted to either different wheel images or different available colours or both are not included below, as that would be nearly all cars.

Roster
The list of available cars is also different from the final. Below is the complete list for this demo, and a full list for the final can be found here. Bold items in the table denote entries removed for the final.

To see the respective car in place of the Ford Mustang GT on the car selection screen, use the following GameShark code: 800258d4 WWVV 800258d6 YYXX 300258d8 00ZZ

Replace the V's, W's, X's, Y's, and Z's with the hexadecimal representation of the car reference code above. Here's an Here's an Ascii table reference. For example, for the Suzuki Kei S '98:

VV = 'x' (hex representation 0x78)

WW = '2' (0x32)

XX = 'k' (0x6b)

YY = 's' (0x73)

ZZ = 'n' (0x6e)

...So the final code would be 800258d4 3278 800258d6 736b 300258d8 006e

Note that most cars don't work if selected; the demo hangs before displaying the starting grid or if it gets to the racing, the cars either fall through the track and spin uncontrollably with wheels akimbo, or skid along the ground, again uncontrollably.

To race using a certain car's livery without selecting it, use GameShark code, where "XXXX" is the last four characters of the car ID and "YYYY" is the first four – for the same Kei S (code 220d5758), the code would be.

Most cars do work as AI opponents, though some lack level-of-detail textures and will render as white blobs until you get next to them (most notably the Peugeot 306 Rally Car early version).

To change the livery of the opponents' cars, use the following GameShark codes, replacing X and Y with the car ID like above:

Pos 1: 801C6B88 XXXX 801C6B8A YYYY

Pos 2: 801C6B0C XXXX 801C6B0E YYYY

Pos 3: 801C6A90 XXXX 801C6A92 YYYY

Pos 4: 801c6a14 XXXX 801c6a16 YYYY

Pos 5: 801c6998 XXXX 801c699A YYYY

Tracks
Other than the Rome track which you're forced to race on, there are 14 others that can be accessed; only the Monaco Circuit (here named "Monte Carlo") was removed from the final, though it would be added to Gran Turismo 3: A-spec (there named "Côte d'Azur"). The other 13 are earlier versions of ones in the final, the most unfinished of which are the Pikes Peak Hill Climb (has no end), Grindelwald (graphical errors and glitches up the appearance of all cars), and in view of the filename what seems to be Super Speedway (lacking in almost everything).

To change the race track from Rome to another, use the following GameShark code, where "X" is one of the following:

0 - Grindelwald

1 - Highway (special stage route 5)

2 - Laguna Seca

3 - Monte Carlo

4 - no-name-dirt (smokey mountain north)

5 - Parma (midfield)

6 - Pikes Peak Hill Climb

7 - Roma

8 - Seattle

9 - Super Speedway

a - sprint2 (red rock)

b - tahiti-d

c - tahiti-t (beach side)

d - tahiti-test6

e - tahiti-test7 (tahiti maze)

f - tahiti-test-short

Logos
Two of the manufacturers' logos were changed by the final: the Mazda one had the symbol added, while the Plymouth one replaced a panther with a boat.

Despite having all the above cars present, the demo only contains nameplates for those that are shown for selection. Nevertheless, even some of these didn't pass by unaltered: