After a pause this morning, caused by a global server infrastructure outage, the new set of Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races is now available and brings three new races for players to tackle over the next seven days.
We’ve got a little bit of a change in the format this week, with racing cars in all three events, an unusual category and car selection in the longer Race C slot, and — for the second week in a row — fully ranked races with Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR) affected across the board. Assuming you can actually get into a lobby, which seems optimistic right now in the wake of the issue.
The Race A event this week features the entry model in the fictional Red Bull X range of cars based on the X1 Prototype (later the X2010, due to there being a BMW with that name) designed for Gran Turismo 5 by legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey.
That’s the Red Bull X2014 Junior, which has the same basic layout but in a smaller package, with conventional aerodynamics, and a compact, two-liter four-pot delivering 246hp to the rear wheels. It’s a far more forgiving vehicle than the madcap, full-fat models — driving more like an F3 car than something well beyond an F1 car — which should make the race pretty entertaining.
You’ll be tackling the reverse layout of the full-length Sardegna Road Track A course, zipping out into the Sardinian countryside, over the course of a four-lap race and on Racing Hard tires. Unusually it’s also a 16-car grid; Race A is ordinarily limited to 12 cars.
Beware of the False Start Check on the grid too this week, which requires you to hold the car on the brakes or handbrake from the moment the final start light goes on and until they all go off to start the race. If you move at all in this period you’ll get an instant penalty, cutting engine torque for as long after the start as the amount by which you jumped it. For those high up the grid, this likely means you’ll be hit from behind by unsighted cars.
For this week’s Race B sprint you’ll be heading to a circuit literally bearing the name for a five-lap race in the Gr.3 cars on Racing Hard tires.
Naturally that’s the Nurburgring Sprint course, which GT fans of old may recall as the GP/D variant. This loops back between turns four and ten, cutting out the bottom hairpin and Michael Schumacher-S and returning to the main circuit at the recently renamed Xiaomi Curve.
You can pick any Gr.3 car you like from the 50 available in the category for this race, and the class is typically well-balanced and with multiple viable options. However it’s looking like players are favoring mid-engined cars and the soon-to-be-superseded Ferrari 458 in particular for this event, likely due to higher rotation rates and less emphasis on straight line acceleration and speed.
With the Autopolis 3 Hours in Japan’s Super GT series taking place last weekend, it’s probably not much of a surprise to find an event riffing off that in the Race C slot.
This is an event for Gr.2 cars but with a bit of a twist as only four of the ten cars in the category are available for selection: the 2016 GT500 models of Honda NSX, Lexus RC F, and Nissan GT-R, and the Audi RS5 DTM car.
That’s actually not that much different to the usual choice, as the 2016 Super GT cars are usually the only competitive ones. Indeed there’s not a single Audi on the top 100 qualifying times right now, suggesting that this will be the left-field choice. Good luck, and don’t forget to use the weakest DRS in the entire game if you do opt for it…
Aside from the car selection, you only need to keep in mind that the cars are using Racing Soft tires for this 13-lap race and that there’s a mandatory pit stop in effect. Failing to take the stop will land you with a one-minute post-race penalty, but it’s not likely you’ll miss it as a set of Softs won’t last the race.
Beware that awkward pit entry too which both invites a crash (probably for the car pitting right in front of you) and will score you a three-second on-track penalty if you cross the solid line with a late dive. The same penalty applies at pit exit, but the line is more obvious and you’ll only have yourself to blame for that one.
Daily Races are the main ranked multiplayer events in Gran Turismo 7. Your Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR) are determined by your performances, updating at the end of each race, and these are used to set your ranking and league for the game’s flagship esports series each season.
In order to access the Daily Races, you’ll need to unlock Sport Mode, by completing Menu Book 9 (“Championship: Tokyo Highway Parade”) in the GT Cafe single player hub. A PlayStation Plus subscription is required to take part.
With GT7’s Daily Races updating every Monday across the game’s life to date, the next new set should arrive on Monday, October 27 — if AWS doesn’t fall over again.
Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races October 20: Race A
- Track: Sardegna Road Track A Reverse – 4 laps
- Car: Gran Turismo Red Bull X2014 Junior – Garage/Specified Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Partially Allowed – Brake Balance
- Start Type: Grid Start with False Start Check
- Mandatory Pit Stop: 0
- Fuel use: 1x
- Tire use: 1x
Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races October 20: Race B
- Track: Nurburgring Sprint – 5 laps
- Car: Gr.3 – Garage/Specified Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Partially Allowed – Brake Balance
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Mandatory Pit Stop: 0
- Fuel use: 1x
- Tire use: 1x
Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races October 20: Race C
- Track: Autopolis International – 13 laps
- Car: Gr.2 Selection – Garage/Specified Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Partially Allowed – Brake Balance
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Mandatory Pit Stop: 1
- Fuel use: 1x
- Tire use: 1x
See more articles on Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races.
