the cutting room mirror

Gran Turismo 4 First Preview

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This is a sub-page of Proto:Gran Turismo 4.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

To do:
Start dumping whatever hasn't been seen in any form out of the game's files, as GT4.VOL can be opened now. Apparently there's also a lot of hidden cars in here, too.

Released a couple of months before the final game as both a standalone demo and with The PlayStation magazine, the Gran Turismo 4 First Preview demo showcases a build of Gran Turismo 4 in a significantly more final state than all of the demos before it. The executable was built on September 20th, 2004.

Playable Content#

This demo feature the following cars as playable in races and Photo Travel:

  • Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) Nür-Special '04 (renamed Nissan FALKEN☆GT-R Race Car '04 in the final game)
  • Mazda RX-8 Type S '03
  • Nissan Skyline GT-R V Spec II Nur (R34) '02
  • Mazda RX-7 GT-X (FC) '90
  • Toyota MR2 1600 G-Limited Super Charger '86

Nürburgring Nordschleife, Trial Mountain, and George V Paris are playable in Single Race and Time Trial modes (limited to two laps and 150 seconds), while Marunouchi and Sagano are the available Photo Travel locations. Hong Kong, Costa di Amalfi, and Ice Arena also appear in demo replays.

Revisional Differences#

Start Menu#

While the background FMV seems to be finalized by this point, the menu in this demo only allows you to Start or go through the Options menu, with both options in all-caps. Strangely enough, there's no copyright year and, as such, the font for the copyright information was made larger for this demo; also strangely enough, the registered trademark for Gran Turismo in this demo was changed to a standard trademark in the final game.

Demo

Final

Car Options#

This demo uses a limited car option menu, with only a couple of options and a couple of tire options, too.

Demo

Final

In-Game Differences#

Loading Screen#

Interestingly enough, even the loading screen when entering a track is slightly different.

Demo

Final

Race Menu#

The race menu is quite different in this build, featuring less information about the cars in general and a Gran Turismo 3-esque background run of a race. The icons indicating a race start and to exit the race are also different. A larger version of the demo's race start icon was repurposed as the Entry icon in the final version's GT Mode, while a race start icon similar and with the same spot of the demo's one would later be used on Tourist Trophy pre-race menu (albeit showing a biker helmet).

Demo

Final

Race Start#

The actual race start is considerably different and still appears to be unchanged from Gran Turismo 4 Prologue. The final game has a sweeping view of all the cars rather than an angled shot of the player's car.

Demo

Final

It should also be noted that Nürburgring Nordschleife starts a race in a proper grid fashion like the other tracks in this demo, rather than the rolling start like in the final game. Coincidentially, a grid start for this track in single race mode will be later reintroduced in Gran Turismo PSP.

Demo

Final

In-Race HUD#

The in-race HUD looks quite similar between First Preview and the final game, with the most notable differences being a low fuel indicator, a different indicator for the car's redline and a slightly modified font for the timer.

Demo

Final

The bumper HUD is also slightly different, featuring a speedometer that's not as optimistic as the final game's speedometer and the lack of an odometer.

Demo

Final

16:9 HUD#

Even the HUD in the demo's 16:9 mode is a little bit different. The bottom portion of the HUD does not stretch out to fill the screen, something that was ultimately done in the final game.

Demo

Final

Hidden Arcade Mode#

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion.
Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

This build contains an early version of the Arcade menu used at E3 2004 that can be enabled by changing the configuration from "august" to "june".

Earlier Compile#

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

An earlier compile of the demo was found in June 2026, in a disc labeled as "Event Code, November 2004", with GT4.VOL dated eleven hours before First Preview (First Preview's VOL file was built at 14:45:28 JST, the "event code" was built at 03:35:55 JST). The earlier compile plays identical to this build as a result, although reportedly it had more input lag in gameplay.

The following files inside the GT4.VOL file have changes in the earlier compile:

  • \car\lod\hond0006
  • \car\lod\niss0021
  • \car\lod\niss0022.pat
  • \car\lod\niss0023
  • \car\lod\niss0023.pat
  • \menu\hond0006
  • \menu\niss0021
  • \menu\niss0022
  • \menu\niss0023
  • \menu\niss0043
  • \crs\trialmt
  • \replay\NTSC\august_gtr4_nur
  • \replay\NTSC\mazda_nur
  • \sound\gt4sys.ins