Arcade Mode Disc

This is a sub-page of Gran Turismo 2.

This page documents content that was either intended for use in Arcade Mode or found exclusively on its disc.

Unused Arcade-Specific Tire Compound#

Watch on YouTubeWhen a non-garage car is selected in Arcade Mode, the player is prompted to choose between a "Racing" and a "Drift" grip setting — the former assigns the car tires equivalent to GT Mode's "Sports" tire compound, the latter gives it tires slightly grippier than GT Mode's "Control" (aka "Simulation") option. However, an unused third Arcade-specific compound configuration also exists, sitting between the two available options in terms of grip level and offering marginally inferior grip than GT Mode's "Normal" tires.

Unused Opponent Data#

Data for 38 Arcade Mode opponents is defined in carparam/arcade_data.dat, but only 37 of them are assigned to race events. Opponent ID $25, corresponding to the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V Rally Car (m2w5r), is left unused in all retail versions of the game, and is the only turbocharged opponent to correctly use the ene_t engine sound file in the Arcade roster.

Unimplemented Fourth Difficulty Level#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Discover the exact value this menu's logic is reading.

Under normal circumstances, the Level Selection menu displays three difficulty options: Easy, Normal and Hard/Difficult. However, a fourth button is also defined in its data, being assigned an otherwise unused "Professional" panel graphic. This supposed fourth difficulty level is not functional and will crash the game at the Starting Grid loading screen.

Similarly to the Class Selection menu, which contains an unlockable "Class-S" option not visible by default, there is menu logic that determines whether the Level Selection screen will show three or four options, with varying button placement and padding depending on the result of a check. By using one of the following GameShark codes this logic may be patched to trick the game into displaying the unfinished fourth option:

D001DB8A 1040
3001DB8B 0014
D001DB92 1440
3001DB93 0010

D001DD72 1040
3001DD73 0014
D001DD7A 1440
3001DD7B 0010

D001DD3A 1040
3001DD3B 0014
D001DD42 1440
3001DD43 0010

A hidden professional difficulty level would eventually appear in Gran Turismo 3, being accessed with a button combination.

Unused Graphics#

Early Button Panels#

Gran Turismo 2 uses TIM files named arc_panels for its Arcade Mode menu item graphic sheets, with each language using a separate file with a two-letter code suffix. Older prototype builds of the game do not feature localised menus, using a single file named arc_panels.tim instead, which survives in the final product and was last modified about a month before the arc_panels_jp.tim sheet used in the earliest Japanese retail version.

Unused	Used

Early panel graphics meant for the Game Selection menu are, for the most part, updated versions of what is used in demo builds, with the sole exception being the "Drag Race" button graphic which was already unused in the earliest demo available and was left untouched.

The oldest Japanese retail version also contains localised variants of the early texture sheet, and the silly purple button is left untranslated in all of them. These files would gradually be replaced with their used counterparts as their corresponding regional builds neared completion — the first updated _us variant is dated December 2 (six days before its retail build), while the updated European files have a timestamp of December 19 (nine days before the region's retail build, two days before the leaked "preview build" which was compiled alongside the final Japanese retail version).

Unused	Used

The Class Selection button panels saw multiple revisions during development, with one of these changes introducing a typo where "Sports" is misspelled as "Sprots." This mistake was caught before the game went gold, but the early graphics survive in arc_panels.tim as well as its early _us and _uk counterparts.

Bonus Cars Sign#

Found within the various regional arc_goodies files is this text bubble graphic. It may have been part of an earlier design of the Goodies/Bonus Items screen, which keeps track of the mode's various unlockable cars.

Manufacturer Logos#

Multiple manufacturer logos, meant to be shown above the car's logo on the Car Selection menus of Arcade Mode, exist in arc_maker.tim but are never used or seen.

Logo ID: $11

Mercury was originally planned to have its own dealer in South City, but its only models — the '67 classic and the then-new '99 Mercury Cougar — ended up moved to the Ford dealer during development. This logo is assigned to the Cougar's slot in demo builds of GT2, but the retail versions use the Ford logo instead as the Mercury branding was moved to the car's logo itself.

Mercury was first treated as a standalone manufacturer in Gran Turismo 4.

Logo ID: $19

The various models of the Mini Cooper were originally meant to be grouped under the Rover brand, but they ultimately were moved to a combined "MINI and MG" dealership. This Rover logo is assigned to the Mini Cooper 1.3i slot of Class-C in all available builds of GT2, but only is visible to the player in the earliest demo version, as later builds are coded to omit the manufacturer graphic and render the car's logo as vertically centered. This does not impact the vehicle's placement in Class-C, however, as it still sits between the Peugeot 206 GTi and Suzuki Alto Works RS/Z '98 there, and does not apply to the Mini 1275S Mark I in the Rally class, as that slot is assigned blank logo $12 instead and is not coded to hide it.

Logo ID: $21

While the Opel Tigra is used in Arcade Mode, in both road and ice race flavors, the Vauxhall variant is not available at all, even in the European version of GT2 set to English, rendering this logo unused. It does not exist in the arc_maker.tim file of demo builds.

Early GT Mode Dataset#

Present in the carparam VOL directory on the Japanese Arcade Mode disc are earlier versions of files that handle garage text strings, car parts and race parameters, built about four and a half hours before those found and used on the GT Mode disc.

jpn_unistrdb.dat#

This file stores the individual strings that make up a car's name as seen in GT Mode's garage. The changes here involve fixing a mistake with the Unisia JECS Skyline – which is incorrectly referred to as "Unisia JACS" – as well as cleaning up strings related to some Subaru Impreza models.

gtmode_data.dat#

This file handles various data related to all cars in the game, including which strings — referencing the text found in jpn_unistrdb.dat — are used to compose a car's name. The changes made to gtmode_data.dat are all related to the aforementioned Subarus, but the table that follows includes cars affected by modifications to both files.

gtmode_race.dat#

This file controls the various parameters related to GT Mode race events. The differences here reveal that, at a rather late point in development, various credit prizes and power restrictions were bumped, presumably for the player's convenience.

GT League#

Special Events#

Rally Events#

Endurance#