GT Sport Daily Races: Austrian Antics

Another new week means another new set of Gran Turismo Sport Daily Races is now available, and there’s something of an Austrian theme to the week.

That’s most obvious in Race B, which will be the faster of the three events this time round. Players will take charge of any Gr.3 car they wish — the game’s equivalent to the GT3 category — for a five-lap race of the country’s only Grade 1 circuit: Red Bull Ring.

There’s no complexity to be concerned about here. You’ll just pick your preferred Gr.3, strap on some Racing Medium tires, and get five laps of the full grand prix circuit done as quickly as possible.

While Race A takes you to one of the game’s fictional circuits, it too has an Austrian flavor. Not the circuit this time — although there is a real Lago Maggiore about 90 miles from Austria — but the car. You’ll be driving a product of Austria’s only native automotive brand, KTM.

In fact there’s a surprising number of vehicles made in Austria, through the contract manufacturer Magna which builds or has built cars for Aston Martin, BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes, but KTM — probably better known for its motorbikes — is the only brand which builds its own cars. It’s quite a car too, with the X-Bow gaining fame through its appearances in annual Race of Champions events.

However the Sports Hard tires for the seven-lap race of the tiny Center track will bring out some of the short wheelbase X-Bow’s more interesting handling traits, particularly through the fast chicane on the back section of the track. That might mean this is a race where your SR goes to die.

This week’s final race is for the Gr.4 cars. These are more significantly road cars than the Gr.3 models, usually consisting of little more than a stripped-back production model with relatively perfunctory aerodynamics, a roll cage, and some slick tires. It takes place not in Austria, but Australia — not two countries you’d want to get easily confused.

It’s a rather straightforward week this week, with a 6x tire wear multiplier — each lap adds six laps of wear to your tires — for the eight-lap race, meaning the Racing Medium tires should last the duration. You’ll likely want a car that’s fast down the Conrod Straight, which is the easiest overtaking opportunity, so you can hold up the handling vehicles across the narrow mountain section. That makes the front-wheel drive cars a good choice for the week, and you can continue the Austrian theme with the Peugeot RCZ Gr.4; Magna built the original RCZ after all!

These three races will run through to Monday September 6, when another set will replace them.

Race A

• Track: Autodrome Lago Maggiore – Center, 7 laps
• Car: KTM X-Bow R ’12 – Provided Car
• Tires: Sports Hard
• Start Type: Grid Start
• Fuel use: Off
• Tire use: Off

Race B

• Track: Red Bull Ring, 5 laps
• Car: Gr.3 – Garage Car
• Tires: Racing Medium
• Start Type: Rolling Start
• Fuel use: Off
• Tire use: Off

Race C

• Track: Mount Panorama, 8 laps
• Car: Gr.4 – Garage Car
• Tires: Racing Hard
• Start Type: Rolling Start
• Fuel use: 2x
• Tire use: 6x

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