Let's give it a topic - 'tis the season etc. (I genuinely knew nothing about Sega GT 2002 until about a fortnight ago, now look at me) Twenty years ago, the Official Xbox Magazine in the US released its January 2003 edition. It was a magazine with demo discs, this was its demo disc: One of these things is not like the others. "Sega GT Holiday Drive"? What's all that then? A Christmas treat: (the only decent video on YouTube has commentary - apologies) "Sega GT 2002: Christmas Version", a currently undocumented pseudo-demo of Sega GT 2002. "Pseudo" because it came out after the base game... and features content not in the game. Pick one of three cars, then race around one of the courses (with a festive theme) in reverse. You get a themed Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger (see: US market) but also a unique, fictional vehicle, the "Groundeffect A.K.I.O": It has engines and fans and is slightly insane, and it doesn't exist at all in the stock release. WOW Entertainment created a car specifically for a limited run, US-only(?) demo disc, and it hasn't been seen since. kinda Because over a year later, a sequel to Sega GT 2002 was released, Sega GT Online. It's even less well documented than the previous entry, but the only thing you need to know is "it has more stuff in it" (unless you're an Opel fan). It also has more than its fair share of cut content hanging around in various stages of completion on the disc, including cars by BMW, the two removed Opel cars, a Bugatti "Veylon" and the Groundeffect A.K.I.O. And with a bit of hacking to get these vehicles up and running in the main mode, you can upgrade the AKIO to stupid speeds and win everything ever. There's like, one guy on YouTube who seems to care - thanks guy on YouTube! The moral(?) of this story: don't... write off 20-year-old Xbox racing games because... they... might be a tiny bit more interesting than you thought? Yes there are Toy Commander Christmas and Summer demos for the Dreamcast. The internet knows about those. Or at least it probably should do by now.
Great info, still for me the best racing game of that gen. I have the mag when you got an interview with the team on the demo disc
I thought sega gt online was just sega gt with online added, it had more cars too? Damn, back then I bought it after enjoying sega gt but quickly sold it after feeling like I was playing a repeat of what I had just been playing, it wasn't the best of releases and I think ended up witha very limited uk print run.
Not it as almost like a sequel with weather effects 40 new cars and also new tracks. I also remember the special track when you could racer with 12 online players which was quite something on a console, back then. Its such a good racer and was the only game that came close for GT 3/4 car models on any other system IMO.
I'll have to try and get my hands on it again, I own a modded OG xbox so it would not be too hard. I guess it goes to show that naming your game the same but just adding online doesn't always do a good job, even as an owner of the game back then I had no idea it was that different, menus mostly felt the same. Maybe they could have made it clearer.
To be fair to SEGA it really was the Online mode was the main selling point of the game. It's so... good mind, it's a shame the game never sold better. It really was SEGA at their driving best. Noone makes a better racer than SEGA, when they're on it. SEGA GT for me was the only game too, that came close to Polyphony Digital GT3/4 car models, at that time
