The beginning of the video shows credits for various staff members that developed the game. This is completely absent from the final game.
The whole video and beginning ambience also lasts longer because of that.
The drumplay (which starts at 0:50) is way quieter.
There's various points in the intro where some scenes last a couple frames longer.
The pavement at 1:18 is brighter.
The car crashing noise at 1:39 is louder.
The car driving noise at 1:54 is quieter.
The end card is shorter on screen. The music also fades out early because of that.
Game Type Previews
Some common tropes you'll see with the video differences between this build and the final game is that all preview videos are in 640x480 opposed to 486x364 with no similar scenes to compare, there's black borders around all videos indicating these were direct captures from an early build, and you'll see various scenery pop in or out depending how far the camera is away from them. Any other major differences will be noted for each video below.
Career - Online Career
Prototype
Final
Career - Amateur Events
Prototype
Final
Career - Professional Events
Prototype
Final
Career - Championship Series
Prototype
Final
The prototype footage was recorded at 720x486 (3:2).
Career - Endurance Events
Prototype
Final
Freerun - Hot Lap
Prototype
Final
Freerun - Autocross
Prototype
Final
This is the only video that has one scene that appeared in the final game and has a black border around the image. The rest was rerecorded from different angles.
Credits/Career/Freerun - Point to Point
Prototype
Final
The yellow car was originally red.
Track Flytroughs
Not all flytroughs use the video files supplied by their folder in this build. Some use other track's flythroughs to prevent placeholder videos showing up. These placeholder videos will still be noted on this page if they match the same flythrough folder locations from the final game. Mmm... Folder spaghetti.
Only the Autocross flythrough matches the final game byte to byte.
Maple Valley Raceway Short
Prototype
Final
Tsukuba Circuit
Prototype
Final
Silverstone Circuit Short
Prototype
Final
Road Atlanta Short
Prototype
Final
New York Circuit Short
At 0:08 in the prototype flythrough, there's no advertisements on the rails.
Prototype
Final
Alpine Ring
Prototype
Final
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Prototype
Final
Tokyo Circuit
Prototype
Final
Sunset Peninsula Speedway
Prototype
Final
Road Atlanta
The flythrough is identical to Road Atlanta Short, except with a different sky. No visually similar looking flythrough exists compared to the final game.
Sunset Peninsula Infield
Prototype
Final
Maple Valley Raceway
Prototype
Final
Blue Mountains Raceway Normal/II
Prototype
Final
Rio De Janeiro Circuit
Prototype
Final
Silverstone Circuit
Prototype
Final
New York Circuit
Prototype
Final
Road America
Prototype
Final
Nürburgring Nordschleife/South/West/North/East
Prototype
Final
Test Track Infield
Prototype
Final
Test Track Infield II
This track was originally intended to have its own flythrough video, as evidence by this placeholder video which exists in its own track folder. This video doesn't play in this build and instead correctly plays from the TestTrack folder.
Test Track Oval
Prototype
Final
Pacific Shipyards
Prototype
Final
Pacific Shipyards II
Just like Test Track Infield II, this track was intended to have its own flythrough video as evident by a placeholder video in its own track folder. It instead plays a flythrough video from the Vancouver folder.
Fujimi Kaido Down Hill A/B/Normal
Fujimi Kaid Down Hill B & Fujimi Kaid Down Hill do not play the correct flythrough in this build. It should play from the folder JapaneseMtStage1, but instead plays from JapaneseMountain.
Prototype
Final
A placeholder video for Fujimi Kaido Down Hill also still exists in its own folder, but instead plays from JapaneseMtStage1. This folder was deleted from the final game and plays from JapaneseMtReverse as intended.
Fujimi Kaido Hill Climb A/B/Normal
Fujimi Kaido Hill Climb A does not play the correct flythough in this build (just like the track above). Now it's vice versa, where it should play from the folder JapaneseMountain but instead plays from JapaneseMtStage1.
Prototype
Final
Test Track Drag Strip
Funnily enough, this track shows a big placeholder banner with the track name and folder name. It uses the early version of the Test Track Oval flythrough as a backdrop and is the only placeholder video that plays in-game.
Placeholder Video
Present in media are two identical placeholder videos conveniently titled placeholder.bik and placeholder_audio.bik. It's a simple two second video that displays the text "NEED VIDEO HERE..." with each letter appearing one by one. This video has four different audio tracks for testing different audio options set in the Xbox Dashboard. The video has been muted on the wiki, with the four audio channels separated for your listening pleassure.
