#1 sometimes armax wouldn't load my gt4 disc, go into expert mode and manually select it. should work after that.
#2 or you can find another savegame (codebreaker, xport, etc...) and use ps2savebuilder to convert it.
#3 OR... you can download the hybrid .max savegame in my sig, that is if you don't mind running hybrids (yes, they are NTSC compliant lol).
PS. My savegame (#3) has roughly a trillion dollars (muahahaha), as well as all licenses unlocked. it's also a hybrid testbed so some cars may or not work (tune n tweak em to your liking).