Just some notes after playing MSR the last few days:
* APOCALYPSE STREET RACER. I've found another Time Trial bug in the earlier PAL versions. Create a Time Trial, choose "Random Weather" and start a race. The sky will be ash black and all lighting is switched off, even at night. The game will continue until you press Start, where it'll either hang or reset back to the boot screen. This does not happen in the final revisions (including the US version) as the random weather option is removed. Here's a screenshot:
* The instances of "ghost car crashing" seem to increase if you created a ghost on one version of the game and race it on another. In my case, the 2nd PAL revision and the US version. However it may also be caused by potential "minor timing differences" between the PAL/US versions (even though they can both run at 60 hz). I note the US version image on my TV is shifted more to the right.
* I used an Xploder DC to try and force "foggy" Time Trials to stay foggy when a ghost gets saved. Sadly it did not work although I did manage to get rain and fog at once during play!
* Finally I dug up an old email (2010/11) from someone who posted times on the original MSR ranking within Dreamarena. This is what they said about the New Time Trials:
"I'm not sure how many MSR rankings there were. There were definitely ones for the Speed Challenge courses, but as far as I recall the "new time trials" never came to fruition. Some times on all online rankings were hacked (e.g. Sega Rally 2 on Dreamcast, Ferrari 355 and possibly others) which is probably why few games had them. Certainly after it came to light about times being hacked, Sega and MSR's development team stopped handing out prizes - possibly why the new time trials never came to be "