A new Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial is now available, with a rare tie-in to real-world events as the challenge previews one of the major races on the motorsports calendar.
It’s actually a double-rarity, as this week’s new challenge means that we have two time trials running at the same time on real-world circuits on the same continent — and not only that, but it’s in North America.
If you hadn’t already guessed from all of those clues and the image, the new event will take you to the Daytona Road Course for a two-week challenge that will overlap the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona on January 24/25.
Naturally your car for the event is a free choice of Gr.3 vehicles (what with the top-class GTP cars being an under-represented category in GT7), and it turns out that the Ford GT LM isn’t a bad choice if you want to keep the whole thing all-American.
You can though pick whatever Gr.3 car you like for this event, with Racing Hard tires equipped, as you chase down the best time you can manage. The early exchanges have resulted in a current record (at time of publication) of a 1:44.140, which sets the gold time at 1:47.264 — but that’s liable to change over the next couple of weeks.
How much is tough to say. That record is pretty comfortably faster than the second-best at the moment, but the 1:43s will be too close and too tempting for the top players. We’d figure a high-1:43 will be the eventual record, so bettering a 1:46.8 should be your goal for gold.
With a week remaining on the Ford Focus RS event at Road Atlanta, the times are getting close to our predicted markers. The global record sits at a 1:31.468, setting the current gold time at 1:34.212, but we wouldn’t say it’s all over yet. We’ll stick with the prediction of a 1:31.3 to take the eventual record, so you’ll want to be breaking into the 1:33s to be safely gold.
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 January 23.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge January 16 – Daytona Road
- Track: Daytona Road Course
- Car: Gr.3 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge January 9 – Road Atlanta
- Track: Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
- Car: Ford Focus RS ’18 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Hard
- Settings: Fixed
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