The first Monday of the new year sees many of us returning to work and education after a well-earned festive break, but also brings the first new Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races of the year too.
It’s a relatively regular-looking line-up, with a one-make road car race up in the first slot and two events for different racing categories in the other two, with the more common Gr.4 sprint and Gr.3 strategic ordering.
Unusually Race A sees both Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR) turned on this week, so it’s a rare set of fully ranked races. It’s at tight, compact track with few valid overtaking chances too — mistakes notwithstanding — so if you get a good practice time in it might be a good rating-builder for the start of the official online GTWS qualifiers which begin pretty soon.
That track is the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, and you’ll be taking to the wheel of the C-segment Mazda 3. Probably the best-looking car of its class right now, the 3 sports the bizarre SkyActiv-X engine which merges the best bits of diesel and gas engines. It won’t shred the Comfort Soft tires, with 177hp and all-wheel drive, but it should be fun enough.
Do note that while the Mazda 3 is a great engine-swap candidate, taking the 787B’s quad-rotor, you cannot use engine-swapped cars in this race.
Race B is a bit of a brief encounter, comprising a seven-lap blast around the Big Willow course at Willow Springs in your choice of Gr.4 car.
Although it’s a very quick course and you’ll be on the least compliant Racing Hard tires, this one is rapidly turning into an Alfa Romeo 4C one-make — despite its lack of power — but others can put up a decent fight too.
That leaves us with the tactical battle of Race C, featuring the usual Gr.3 cars at the rather enjoyable Tokyo Expressway South Counterclockwise circuit. As there’s six Tokyo tracks and they can be easy to mix up, this is the one with the squared-off section through the docks about a quarter of the way through.
Tokyo South also has a very unusual pit area, sitting in a parking structure about three-quarters of the way along the lap, nowhere near the start/finish line — and that’s going to come into play as the race has a required tire compound change.
You’ll need to use both the Racing Hard and the Racing Medium tire during the race, and the tire wear multiplier is just low enough to make the Mediums viable for the full race. That means you can head in during lap one to ditch the Hards, and carry on the rest of the race — or even run 10.75 laps on the Mediums then take the Hards for the final quarter-lap.
Take great care though when pitting. The pit lane begins on the outside of the hairpin and takes you the long way round the corner. Touching that solid yellow line before heading in will land you a three-second penalty that must be served on-track at the penalty zone. Failing to take both tire compounds will result in a one-minute penalty added to your overall race time.
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, January 12.
Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races January 5: Race A
- Track: Brands Hatch Indy Circuit – 8 laps
- Car: Mazda 3 ’19 – Garage/Specified Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Comfort Soft
- Settings: Specified
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Mandatory Pit Stop: –
- Fuel Multiplier: 1x
- Tire Multiplier: 1x
Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races January 5: Race B
- Track: Willow Springs Big Willow – 7 laps
- Car: Gr.4 – Garage/Specified Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Partially Allowed – Brake Balance
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Mandatory Pit Stop: –
- Fuel Multiplier: 1x
- Tire Multiplier: 1x
Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races January 5: Race C
- Track: Tokyo Expressway South Counterclockwise – 11 laps
- Car: Gr.3 – Garage/Specified Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Hard†, Racing Medium†
- Settings: Partially Allowed – Brake Balance
- Start Type: Rolling Start
- Mandatory Pit Stop: –
- Fuel Multiplier: 3x
- Tire Multiplier: 4x
† Denotes mandatory tire
See more articles on Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races.
