The latest Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial is now available, bringing a fresh hot-lap challenge for players to get to grips with over the next two weeks.
For this week’s new event we’re seeing a shift back towards race cars, although only in the technical sense as you’ll be driving Gr.4 machinery — and your choice of any car in that category.
This GT4-like racing class essentially features track-converted road cars. These are machines derived from production models, but shorn of all the additional weight — like sound deadening and plush interiors — then fitted with race-ready parts to survive the punishment of the track environment.
There’s dozens of these vehicles in GT7, in a class originally set up as part of the core esports offering but which has become increasingly sidelined in favor of Gr.3 cars as the category has become harder and harder to balance properly thanks to the wide range of drivetrains.
Indeed you’ll probably want one of the all-wheel drive cars in the class if you want to get a gold time in this week’s time trial at the full Autodrome Lago Maggiore course. Most of the top 100 at present are using these — mainly the Genesis G70 — so you’ll likely need to join them to beat them.
At present you’re gunning for a 2:08.417 for the gold, with the world record sitting at 2:04.677. This is probably going to be a high-participation event though, so we don’t think that mark will sit still for long — it’s amazing it hasn’t been beaten while we were typing this — so figure on a high 2:03 record and a mid-2:07 for gold.
Last week’s Honda S2000 event has another seven days on it still, and times have fallen right into the 2:11 zone as we expected. That means a 2:15.672 is the current target for gold, and it probably won’t fall too much further if at all. If you want to be sure of it a 2:14 will do, but chances are a 2:15.3 will be fine.
There’s still a week to run on the special event time trial, which mimics an event that will be used at this weekend’s Gran Turismo World Series World Finals in Amsterdam. It uses the Red Bull X2019 Competition at the Nurburgring 24h circuit, which is a terrifying prospect, and times haven’t fallen too far since last week. Currently the world record is a 6:10.670, setting gold at 6:21.790, and we’re not sure there’s too much time left in it. Aim to crack into the 6 and teens for safety.
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 — with the special event changing bronze to 500,000cr for a time within 20% of the best.
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 December 12.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge December 5 – Lago Maggiore
- Track: Autodrome Lago Maggiore Full Course
- Car: Gr.4 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge November 28 – Grand Valley
- Track: Grand Valley Highway-1
- Car: Honda S2000 ’99 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Comfort Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Special Lap Time Challenge – Nurburgring 24h
- Track: Nurburgring 24h
- Car: Red Bull X2019 Competition – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Fixed
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