A Brief History of GTPlanet (56K Warning)

[OriginalCheezIt]

GTPlanet has been a staple of the Gran Turismo community for 14 years. On the Internet, that is an eternity. So I figured I would do a little research project, and hop in the Wayback Machine (seriously, that is what it is called) and find the history of GTPlanet. If any older members would like to contribute, please do. This is a community project, so let's have some fun learning the history of our crazy, wonderfully accepting people.

Enjoy.

Chapter One: The Birth of a Planet​

This, my friends, is where we all come from. The earliest capture of the earliest iteration of GTP. Created by our magnanimous and graceful overlord Jordan Greer (ahem, Jo®dan) on January 12, 2000, this is the first Gran Turismo based site to be created after the devastating events of Y2K. Our community still stands today as a monument to those who lost their Gran Turismo 2 save files in the disaster... May their Escudos rest in peace...

Ok, so what if I made up the part about Y2K actually happening? It makes the story more dramatic. Creative liberty, mmmmmk?

After a year online, the Gran Turismo 2 community, as GTP was known by at the time, became the top community in the "Video Games" Category of MSN.
Yet our MSN origins were rather short lived, as there was a new beginning on the horizon...

Chapter Two: Exiting the MSN Solar System
​

If we are a planet, MSN would have been our solar system. And you know what was at the center of the MSN solar system during 2001?

​

I wish I was joking when I said that, but alas, I am not. Here is the the top of the MSN homepage on May 14, 2001, the same day that gtplanet.net was founded:

And you thought I was gonna make a crack at Bill Gates, didn't you? Pfffft, n00bs. (Surely that joke won't become dated, will it?)

So here was what Jordan cooked up to launch us away from the clutches of early 2000's Microsoft:

BY THE POWER OF JORDAN, I DECLARE THIS SITE OPEN!!!

So you know how I called Jordan "magnanimous and graceful"? Well, that may only be partially true. Magnanimous he may be, graceful he is not. Here's why:

Yep, what you just saw was the first ever thread on GTPlanet. Although hilariously underwhelming for the debut of a site the magnitude of GTP, it is quite informative. For example, I did not know that html was off for the forum. Good to know. I also didn't know that ikoncode was on for the forum. Although it would seem that it isn't on anymore... ya know, being able to see the actual code and all...

OK, OK, I'll stop being a smartalec... although I am interested in that video of the Ferrari blowing up...

​

So now that all that boring webmaster-y stuff is done, it's time for some members, am I right? Well, Jordan didn't have to wait too long for someone to join him:

​

And the award for most pointless member to have actual significance to the history of the site is...

Now, on the flip side, I want to take the time to honor our oldest active moderator, who joined on 7/20/2001, who I just found while looking through the staff member list, @Pako! *claps*

*Cracks knuckles* Been a while...

Chapter 3: HOLY ****, YOU SEE THAT? A FREAKIN' METEOR!!!

Yeah. THAT meteor.​

And my oh my, did it hit HARD.

Here's some stats from the Wayback Machine editions of GTP:

August 1, 2001 (12 days after EU release of GT3):

September 22, 2002 (429 days after EU release of GT3)

​

Membership octupled, thread count (not talkin' 'bout blankies, sucka) quattuordecupled, and the number of posts nearly quinquagupled! Have no idea what that means? Let's keep it that way

All that in ~14 months? Blasphemy.

Here's an infographic posted by Jordan in this news article commemorating the 10,000,000th post on GTP:

​

Spoiler: Change Log

EDIT: Chapter 1 updated/rewritten with additional information and also correct Date of Creation (yes, I am always going to capitalize that) and Chapter 2 is added

PLEASE REREAD THE WHOLE THING. I worked very hard on that humor, and I'm not gonna let it go to waste!

EDIT EDIT: Well that was quick... had to add in that little part where JORDAN ACTUALLY MAKES THE FREAKING SITE! smh...

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Changed title. Because 2014.

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Created change log 👍
EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Chapter 3 started
EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Added infographic and changed the change log from quote to spoiler

 

[phillgt2002]

Didn't know that GTP was really active back then. My brother would've loved this place when we played GT2

 

[Jordan]

@OriginalCheezIt You might be interested in this blog post I wrote to celebrate the site's 10th anniversary. It should fill in some of the gaps you find in the Wayback Machine. 👍

 

[Sage Ages]

I like the M3 GTR background.

 

[BobK]

I'm getting this when I try to view the attachments:

GTPlanet - Error
The requested attachment could not be found.

 

[Callum B]

Same here.

 

[Slash]

As am I.

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

I'm getting this when I try to view the attachments:

GTPlanet - Error
The requested attachment could not be found.

Same here.

As am I.

I am currently editing the post, and I changed the attachments. Chapter two will also be up soon. 👍

EDIT: Chapter 1 updated/rewritten with additional information and also correct Date of Creation (yes, I am always going to capitalize that) and Chapter 2 is added

PLEASE REREAD THE WHOLE THING. I worked very hard on that humor, and I'm not gonna let it go to waste!

EDIT EDIT: Well that was quick... had to add in that little part where JORDAN ACTUALLY MAKES THE FREAKING SITE! smh...

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Changed title. Because 2014.

EDIT EDIT EDIT EDIT: Created change log. So you shouldn't see anymore EDIT in this post. Except... EDIT

Ok, I'm done.

 

[Danny]

I can contribute a snippet from the early days.

Did You Know: GTPlanet originally started out in 2000 as a biology-based forum to discuss ecology news and developments surrounding the Giant Toad, but in early 2001 there were more Gran Turismo fans than there were scientists so the purpose of the forum was changed to accommodate this.

 

[axletramp]

I'm a scientist and approve Danny's statement. Well, I say 'scientist'…

Anyways, I've been here for 12 years (today!) now and I can't remember it looking as basic as those screenshots. I'm guessing some big improvements were made between then and January 2002.

Wasn't GTF around before GTP?

 

[ibnumgt1]

Wow, I never knew that GTPlanet is this old. Good job @Jordan for making this awesome website.

 

[Adamgp]

At least now I know what happened to my old favorite Giant Toad forum.

 

[SkylineObsession]

And then the 18th person to sign up to GTP, was me.

I was on the MSN group for a very short time, maybe posted a couple of times (if that?), then the IkonBoard (?) forum got created.

 

[Spock]

Ah, memories...

 

[Danny]

Oh, it's @Jared!

And just where have you been hiding yourself?

 

[Spock]

Working and whatnot, mostly up communication towers and under old buildings.

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

Alright guys, just thought I'd let you guys know that I am indeed alive and that I will continue this. Expect an update in the next couple days.

 

[Eks]

That's awesome to hear. Great stuff so far. 👍

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

That's awesome to hear. Great stuff so far. 👍

Thank you, kind sir. Glad to get any feedback, either positive or negative. Cheers

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

Jeez, I really need to quit being so PD-ish... UPDATE TONIGHT FOR SURE.

 

[sparkytooth]

This is really interesting. I love anything that tells a story behind it.

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

This is really interesting. I love anything that tells a story behind it.

Glad you enjoy it! Expect another update tonight. Probably will just finish Ch.3, but I may get a start on Ch.4 👍

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

Ok, upon inspecting the Wayback Machine, I have found that not very much happens between GT3 and GT4. Any suggestions to spice up the years 2002 and 2003? I sincerely apologize for all the delays, but I am on spring break, so I can release updates more often. Just need to get the creative juices flowing.

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

I haven't forgotten about this project, guys! School and not having a whole lot to say are kinda prohibive to working on this though. It will be finished this summer, for better or worse. Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for reading!

 

[nk4e]

Didn't know that GTP was really active back then. My brother would've loved this place when we played GT2

The drifting community was at it's highest back in GT3. (for me it was)

 

[miata13B]

I could be wrong, but this might be the video misnblu was talking about

 

[OriginalCheezIt]

I could be wrong, but this might be the video misnblu was talking about

@Jordan, any way you can confirm this so I can have an excuse to add it to the OP?

 

[Omnis]

Before there was youtube or break, there was the askmen ign videoclip collection. That was a popular one.

 

[Jordan]

@Jordan, any way you can confirm this so I can have an excuse to add it to the OP?

Yep, that's the video. Haven't seen that one in a while!

 

[miata13B]

Can't believe I remembered that one. I do recall however laughing my butt off when I first watched it and wanted his job ;-)

Yep, that's the video. Haven't seen that one in a while!