My Diaries

A Lurid Tale of Obsession, Depravity, Wits and Attempted Wit

Saturday December 27, 2003

I Finally Manage To Get a GT1 Version 1.0 Disk!

Every time I entered a store with used PlayStation games I tended to hover around looking at the copies of GT1 wondering if I could spot something to tell me that the corresponding disk was likely to be version 1.0, as opposed to the version 1.1 I have several copies of.

Well, about a week ago I had done exactly that at an EB Games (a variation of Electronics Boutique) in the mall where we like to go grocery shopping. They actually had six cases in total--three with Greatest Hits labels, and three more without--only $9.99 each. Now, the Greatest Hits versions never will be version 1.0, but older versions might.

So today I went back and actually decided to buy one of the games. I got to the store about ten minutes before closing. I brought the case to the front, and said I'd definitely buy the game if the CD had a coloured top, trying to explain that I wanted an old version for Game Shark purposes. But the clerk thought, and I subsequently came to agree, that GT1 never came with coloured-top disks--only silver.

So there were two possible sets of disks for the GT1 case I had. (Since, a week later, there were still two Greatest Hits and two plain cases, it seems that EB must distinguish between Greatest Hits and plain versions in their inventory). Neither had coloured graphics on the top. But I agreed to buy one anyway. The clerk went to give me the better copy, but I said, "No, give me the scratched copy. It's likely to be older, and I'm looking for an old version". She agreed to sell me that disk.

When I got home and looked at the disk I agreed that it did not look like a preferable copy to sell, It looked almost like someone had scratched it with a knife--I don't know how someone lets their disks get like that. It was all the more surprising since the manuals were impeccable.

So I loaded the disk into my GS Pro-equipped PlayStation One, and started the game, thinking "Oh well, I hope this works". And somewhat to my surprise, it did.

I grabbed my PDA and found the Nov 1, 2000 page in this diary where I noted GT1 garage structure. I then went into simulation mode, and then into the Game Shark Memory Editor and found the indicated location for money. And it was zeroes!!!

Scanning upward I found the hex 10 27 pattern (i.e. 2710 which represents your initial Cr10,000). Checking with a hard-copy of Game Shark version 1.0 codes confirmed that, indeed I was now looking at version 1.0.

Later I discovered that the disk will not work in Arcade Mode. The mini-replays in the track selection screen do not get loaded, and the game locks up when try to select your track. Oh well.

Sometimes certain options in simulation mode seem to take an enormously long time to complete in simulation mode, too--as if the game is retrying some loads many many times before they succeed.

I found no difference on the top side of the disk, and no difference in the printing on the case or manuals to distinguish this disk from the others I already had. But I did find one minor difference which I may be able to use to determine that a particular copy is likely to be version 1.0. All other GT1 copies I had came in a custom double CD sized case which had a mounting point for only one CD. This game had mounting points for not only the two you might expect, but three! (It not only had the usual CD mount on the outside bottom panel of the case, but also ones on both sides of the inside divider--in fact, this made it rather difficult to fit the sizable manuals inside the case). There were no obvious signs that this case had been substituted for the original, but that is, I suppose, a possibility.

I tried crude techniques to repair the CD, but they didn't help much, if at all. So I now have a copy of version 1.0 which I can use to verify some translations of some of my codes, but I will remain on the lookout for a better copy.