So I've been digging in old copies of Saturn Fan and Sega Saturn Magazine thanks to SegaRetro and I may have dug up a few fun factoids about the sega rally time attack competition they had back in '96.
- It might have been officially sanctioned by Sega, part of the reason why multiple mags were in on it
- I believe the main competition did allow car tuning, which means my times may not be as far off as I thought
- There was also a "Nakamura Cup" (see later volumes), for only best lap times with AT normal Celicas, and only on the normal D-Pad. I gave this a quick try and my times are competitive.
All of this is pending actual translation since I'm leaning on google for this but, it's good to know the gap between me and "people playing this in japan 30 years ago" isn't as big as I thought.
If you're interested, you'll want to check the Feburary volumes for the contest start, August for it's conclusion, and every volume in between for updates and tips.