With the 2023 Olympic Esports Series finals coming up next week, Gran Turismo 7 is hosting a special in-game challenge to whet players’ appetites — and boost their in-game credits balance — for the Motor Sport Event portion of the finals.
You’ll find the challenge behind a new banner on the World Map screen, starting from 0000 UTC on Saturday June 17, and it will run right through to 2359 UTC on Saturday July 1.
The event consists of a race which will be similar to the live final itself, set to be broadcast on Sunday June 25. It’s also based on the qualifying time trial challenge, featuring the Toyota GR010 — decked out in special national liveries — at Deep Forest Raceway.
Instead of being a hot lap event though, it will be an eight-lap race against an AI field which features the likenesses of the top online qualifiers from Europe and South America: Giorgio Mangano, Kylian Drumont, Adriano Carrazza, Will Murdoch, Jose Serrano, and Angel Inostroza.
You’ll be loaned a Toyota GR010 to take part — in the same black-and-white livery as the time trial — but don’t worry if your pace wasn’t exactly close to Mangano’s world record of 1’14.746, as you should easily be able to close the gap to the AI despite starting almost 20 seconds behind.
If you can finish fifth or better, you’ll earn 400,000cr, with another 600,000cr for placing third or better. Taking the win grants a bonus of one million credits, so the event is worth two million credits in total for what should be a relatively comfortable race for most players.
The Olympic Esports Series Motor Sport Event finals will consist of a pre-qualifying time trial round using the same car and track to determine the top 11 of the 31 drivers: ten from online qualifying and 21 as selected by the FIA’s affiliated National Sporting Authorities.
Those 11 will be joined by Motor Sports Singapore’s selection, who is Gran Turismo veteran Ar Muhammed Aleef, for the live-broadcast final, which starts at 0400 UTC on Sunday June 25 and consists of a 42-lap race in the hypercars.
See more articles on Olympic Games.
