[4] Development was led by Kazunori Yamauchi, who had joined Sony in the hopes of utilizing the 3D graphical capabilities of its next generation console to craft an exceptionally accurate racing simulation.

Enthralled by the capability of a home console running 3D computer graphics he only thought was possible on expensive workstations, Tan eagerly joined the staff half way through production and wrote the physics models for all the cars.

[13] As development progressed, the Gouraud shaded polygons of the characters and vehicles were given texture mapped anthropomorphic features while its environment graphics were simplified to maintain a smooth frame rate.

[3] Staff rushed to finish the game during the final three months of development in order to meet a target completion date coinciding with the PlayStation's launch.

Blaming exhaustion and lack of sleep, Yamauchi recalled that he was ultimately convinced by studio higher-ups that their work up to that point was "good enough" and that they should skip resolving certain technical issues in favor of just releasing it.

[15] Months later, Sony executive director Phil Harrison called Motor Toon Grand Prix a launch underperformer and "not indicative of the products that are coming down the line" when previewing the PlayStation's retail availability in North America and Europe.

SCE allowed them to complete work on the first entry in the long-running, realistic racing franchise Gran Turismo, basing its gameplay engine on the one originally crafted for Motor Toon Grand Prix and refined in its sequel.