During the development of Evolution Studios' first WRC game for PS2, it was originally named as Evo Rally, and was meant to be PC exclusive, as far back as 1999. That is until Sony took them under their wings and let the developers release it for the PS2 later. (If only someone decompiled it for PC).
The game was also going to be based on the 2000 season (before changes for the final game), evidenced by screenshots from Edge's December 2000 issue (issue 91).
This magazine got me hooked as I went to learn about the changes before the final release, where it was going to be based on the 2000 WRC season. The game's release would be in May 2001, but later changed to release in November 30th.
I took a dive to discover interesting changes and even scrapped plans mentioned, such as TV broadcast (which is like Eurosport), and spectators rolling cars back, before released in 2001.
And like the trailer, and one of the prototypes which was dumped, Colin McRae was originally intended to appear in the game (in one of the screenshots at page 60), but due to Codemasters having him in their rally game series, he was renamed to Ford Driver.
This is a smiliar thing happened in F1 games where Jacques Villeneuve is replaced with other Williams drivers (such as F1 Pole Position with Driver X).
Page 56 and 57
Page 58 and 59
Page 60
- Incorrect spelling in Luis Moya's first name, "Louis", as seen in one of the screenshots. This would be later fixed in the final.
- TV coverage is seen in one of the screenshots. This would never make it into the final.
- The gameplay has differences in screenshots as evidenced, such as arrows, speedometer dials, driver position splits.
Differences between the cars in two versions (2000 vs 2001), and even two scrapped cars:
- The Peugeot 206 WRC would use the Esso livery in the 2000 version, before changing to Total in the 2001 version. I can't complain, but I'd love to drive the 2000 version in the game.
- The Hyundai Accent WRC would use a different Castrol livery, before changes were made to the final release.
- The Subaru Impreza WRC's 2000 version is seen in the screenshots, but was later changed to the 2001 version in the final due to Subaru WRT officially changing the car for the real-life 2001 season.
In fact: The car is also seen in a footage from BBC Archive, where it covers the rivalry of PlayStation and Xbox from 2000 (uploaded to YouTube). The timestamp is at 0:09.
- The Ford Focus WRC is in the 2000 version, and it even includes the uncensored Martini logo, which was removed in the final version
- The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI would use a Marlboro livery, if you look closely. Like the Martini logo in the Focus WRC, that one is also removed and went through changes for the livery in the final version.
- A cut car in the game is the Seat Cordoba WRC, which would have been in the game, evidenced by a screenshot of it. I can see why it was cut, which is due to Seat withdrawing from WRC after the 2000 season, leading to another VW Group brand to join, and that's Škoda, which we'll be focus on.
- An Airtel sponsored Škoda Octavia WRC would be also in the game, but was also cut, unknowingly.
And at the end of the December 2000 issue, we can see a Hyundai Accent WRC and the Peugeot 206 WRC in 2000 liveries.
This is something I've managed to cover about the differences between the 2000 and 2001 versions of the game.