Funny thing I noticed. I recently played through the US version of Wipeout 3 and LS104 in Phantom is just insane! I remember discussions here on the forum about how ridiculously hard it was to win this race. The AI is just extremely fast and brutal. Even if you have a lead on the final lap they will catch you in the downhill at the end of the lap. Some managed to take a win, many did not.

Now I am finishing up the japanese version and I can admit I sighed before the race started on LS104 in Phantom class. I did my best of course. After less than 1 lap I was in the lead. Kept that lead the entire race and won. The AI was nowhere. Tried a different craft and the same thing. Won the race easily. Apparently it was seen as a bug in the game and was fixed in the japanese version (which came after PAL and US).

Another interesting detail is that the cheat codes for WO3 does not work in the japanese version but the cheat codes for Special Edition does work, except for flipping the tracks. Only Special Edition has flip tracks.