There’s a rare outing for off-road tires in the newest Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial, available from today and running over the next two weeks.
It’s not very often that we see one of the game’s rally stages making an appearance in official events, with the snowbound Lake Louise the only one in recent memory — and even that was months ago. However this week’s event pits you against the unique mixed-surface course at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya location.
This Rallycross Layout combines a short portion of the third sector of the Catalunya track with a cut through the infield on the mud for a very different challenge from the regular off-road courses. Dirt tires are required here, which makes the surfaced portions of the track pretty tricky, low-grip affairs.
Your car for this event, like the last Lake Louise challenge, will be the compact hot hatch homologation special from Toyota, the GR Yaris. This car was destined for the rally stages until real life got in the way, designed by the specialist Gazoo Racing team to address all the ways it thought the regular Yaris could be improved in order to be a foundation for the next WRC car while — as the rules require — also being a production model.
The combination of all-wheel drive hot hatch and mixed-surface driving on dirt tires will require a particular set of skills on this course which is made up of a string of tight turns. It’s also going to be one of the quickest time trials ever.
Currently the world record is a 46.263 — yes, just 46 seconds — resulting in a gold target of 47.650. The rapid lap means there’s not a lot of time to be gained but there’s a natural target of a 45.9 that the top players will be striving to hit. That being the case, you should aim at a 47.2 in order to secure a gold medal and the associated 2m credits.
After the initial flurry of times for last week’s Gr.1 event settled in the mid-to-low 3:25s, the race car specialists got involved and dropped the gold time absurdly far — well beyond our expectations. The current record, from GT World Series finals regular Kaj de Bruin, is now a 3:22.8, setting gold at 3:28.971. While we can’t see that time being beaten, and indeed it’s the only time in the 3:22s right now, it’s anybody’s guess.
In order to access the Online Time Trials, you’ll need to unlock Sport Mode, by completing Menu Book 9 (“Championship: Tokyo Highway Parade”) in the GT Cafe single player hub. As it’s just you against the clock and not a direct, head-to-head multiplayer event, PlayStation Plus is not required.
You’ll usually need to be within 3% of the fastest time globally once the event finishes in order to secure “gold” status and a 2m credit bonus prize. There’s smaller prizes of one million for being within 5%, and 250,000cr for bronze at 10% off.
The events update every Thursday, with each individual challenge usually remaining available for two weeks and the oldest of the two events being replaced each week. You can look forward to the next new Time Trial arriving at 0700 UTC on Thursday November 21.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge November 14 – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
- Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Rallycross
- Car: Toyota GR Yaris ’20 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Dirt
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge November 7 – 24 Heures du Mans
- Track: 24 Heures du Mans Racing Circuit
- Car: Gr.1/Pre-2000 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
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