A new Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial is available from today, featuring a rarely used car in the competitive online component of the game for the global hot lap challenge.
With an update recently deployed and bringing new content we’d have been expecting another event featuring one of the latest vehicles — as was the case with last week’s challenge for the Corvette C5 — but in fact we’re going back to a car that was first introduced in Gran Turismo 6, in a modified form created for GT Sport.
The Alpine Vision Gran Turismo was created by the reborn brand’s director of design, Antony Villain, for GT6, blending the company’s then-new A110 fascia with its racing ambitions for the future as currently represented by the A424 LMDh car.
It features some novel touches like rear air brakes, though sadly these don’t work on the Gr.1 variant of the vehicle we’re using this week — which also, curiously, is now rear-engined where both of its sibling cars are mid-engined.
You’re going after a lap record at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya GP course in “No Chicane” format — which deletes the final RACC chicane — in maximum attack mode this week, with Racing Soft tires fitted to the Alpine for the most grip everywhere.
Currently the record is a 1:27.713, part of a cluster of times around the 1:27.7-1:27.8 mark that suggests we’re pretty close to getting the car as fast as it will go. We wouldn’t rule out a few tenths coming when the hot lap specialists get their eye in, so we’d figure maybe a 1:27.3 by close of play.
The dynamic nature of the gold/silver/bronze targets means that while a 1:30.344 will get you into that gold band for the maximum 2m credit reward today, it almost certainly won’t in two weeks’ time. If our prediction above comes true, you’ll need to be in the 1:29s, and maybe a 1:29.8 or better will be enough. We’ll re-assess next week though, when there’s a few more times on the board.
While the Corvette event at Dragon Trail still has a week remaining, it’s the same person still at the top of the leaderboard following their early and ludicrously rapid opening gambit — though he’s shaved a couple of tenths off since that for good measure.
Ryota Kokubun remains the only person in the 1:47s, with a 1:47.792 still a quarter of a second faster than his nearest rival. We very strongly suspect that he’s already crowned this week’s champion, but there remains a chance that he could go faster still — which will of course affect the gold target time.
That currently sits at 1:51.025, so you’ll probably want to be getting into the high 1:50s — perilously close to what we expected last week — if you want to be sure of gold in a week’s time.
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 May 29.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 22 – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
- Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya GP No Chicane
- Car: Alpine Vision Gran Turismo 2017 Gr.1 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 15 – Dragon Trail Seaside
- Track: Dragon Trail Seaside
- Car: Chevrolet Corvette (C5) Z06 ’01 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Medium
- Settings: Fixed
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