Yeah another guy mentioned it, I was shocked myself as I never noticed it either. And other PGR related news. NSFW
Actually that's exactly what they did. It was part of the Paris booster pack DLC. However to show whether you'd earned it or not it had "(live)" at the end of the cars name (to show you'd bought it). I think the earned one was in a unique colour as well. Actually if I remember right it was at this point the devs admitted that they way they'd gone about letting players unlock the cars was flawed (e.g. the Ferrari F50 on the cover wasn't unlocked until you'd done quite a few races in the game).
Just stumbled on another World Trade Center removal. NHL 2002 "After September 11, 2001, a patch was created that changed the image shown on the loading screen before New York Rangers games. Originally, it had been the World Trade Center. It was changed to the Statue of Liberty. (New York Islanders games simply showed the arena.)" The Xbox version was released December 10, 2001 so I'm guessing it was patched. Confirmed it loads the Statue of Liberty. Edit: I'll test the September 1, 2001 Alpha when I receive it.