In the era of the PlayStation 2, if you walked into an electronics market in Shanghai or Beijing, you would find stalls selling stacks of purple-bottomed DVD-Rs for a few yuan each. Gran Turismo 4 was a massive game, requiring a dual-layer DVD to hold all its content. This presented a problem for pirates.

(ID SCCS 40001) exists. It is essentially a re-localized version of the South Korean build, featuring Korean-exclusive cars like the Hyundai Tuscani Lexus IS200 GT-1 Race Car but with Chinese text. 2. The Asian/Hong Kong Release (NTSC-J)

It appears in the game’s files as:

This console was unique. To combat piracy (which was rampant in the region), Sony locked the SCPH-50009 to only play NTSC-C format discs. It was a walled garden. Consequently, Gran Turismo 4 (alongside a handful of titles like ICO and Dynasty Warriors 5 ) received a specific pressing for this ecosystem.

If you want, I can also provide the exact CodeBreaker codes to restore the Hong Kong track on a real PS2, or the PCSX2 patch steps.

In the 2020s, Chinese GT fans have:

This is where the legend gets its teeth. China’s gaming regulations in 2005 were strict regarding "social corruption." Consequently, several features present in the Japanese and US versions were scrubbed.