I figured I'd ask this now, years after the information stopped being relevant.

[Tornado]

What exactly is the deal with some of the hidden cars in this game? I mean, aside from the obvious (an actual Porsche? Really?), I'm talking some of the stranger stuff, like the S2000 with no model name, or those nifty Miatas with the roll cages; or for that matter, the hidden Lancia Stratos twins.

I've been thinking that the S2000 might be a holdover from the GT2000 days (though why they didn't use it I have no clue), and that the Miatas may be from one of the GT Concept games or something. But what is the deal with, say, the modeled and complete Porsche that PD didn't actually have the licence to make? I thought that the Stratos twins may have been removed like the Lambo was, but they don't really seem finished (suspension is all screwed up), so what's up with them? Has anyone ever figured out why these cars were in the game at all?

 

[Northstar]

How do you get these cars?

(I'm playing GT3 now as I never got to when it came out)

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I wish Pupik were here more often. He'd probably know the official answer to this. Or maybe Sportwagon would know. I unfortunately do not.

 

[skynyrd]

How do you get these cars?

Use a gameshark or get a save containing the cars from someone else. It's a lot of trouble if you're not familiar with how it works, though, and there's not really anything special about any of them.

 

[Tornado]

If you have a way to get saves onto the computer, the process is far easier, though.

 

[Pupik]

I haven't a clue, honestly. This is just my speculation, so don't bother arguing or approving.

My guess is that PD wanted to push the envelope; they created a few cars for testing on or for kicks. My guess is that the Porsches were easier to get hands on before Rufs (as there's far more of them), for testing and modeling.

I think the Lamborghini Diablo may have been "limboed" in as a JGTC car, but the suits at Polyphony or Sony said no, like the Porsche.

I can't explain the rest; I never pulled apart the guts of GT3 like I did GT2. Not even 1% of the way. I suppose the testers were too worried about actually deleting some of the information, for fear it would cause problems with other parts of the game. After all, GT3 has far less bugs than GT2, but the "[wikipedia]spaghetti code[/wikipedia]" mentality is hard to get away from once the deadline looms.

(These are the real questions I'd ask Kazunori, to hell with textures, realism, and other colorful but nonsensical comments about the future of the game. I'd like to hear more about the past.)