By means of N -body simulations, we study the evolution of gravity-dominated systems from an early relaxation to a collapse, focusing on the velocity distributions and thermodynamic properties. To simulate the dynamical evolution, we consider self-gravitating small N -body systems enclosed in a spherical container with adiabatic or semipermeable walls. It is demonstrated that in the early relaxation process, the velocity distribution is non-Gaussian and q-Gaussian, since the system is in

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... uilibrium states (here q is the Tsallis entropic parameter). Thereafter, the velocity distribution undergoes higher non-Gaussian distributions, especially when the core forms rapidly in the collapse process; i.e., q tends to be larger than that for the quasiequilibrium state, since the velocity distribution further deviates from Gaussian. However, after the core forms sufficiently, the velocity distribution gradually relaxes toward a Gaussian-like distribution. Accordingly, the velocity distribution evolves from a non-Gaussian distribution through a higher non-Gaussian distribution to a Gaussian-like distribution; i.e., the velocity distribution does not monotonically relax toward a Gaussian-like distribution in our collapse simulations. We clearly show such a transition of the velocity distribution, based not only on the Tsallis entropic parameter but also on the ratio of velocity moments. We also find that a negative specific heat occurs in a collapse process with mass and energy loss (such as the escape of stars from globular clusters), even if the velocity distribution is Gaussian-like.