An all-time Gran Turismo fan-favorite vehicle gets to star in its own Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial for the next two weeks, with the new event beginning today.
The S14-generation Nissan Silvia is almost synonymous with Gran Turismo, with the car appearing in every main title (depending on how you classify GT Sport, from which it was absent) since the first one, often in several forms.
That applies to GT7 too, with the car we’ll be using this week added in update 1.26 in November 2022 to join another S14 Silvia that arrived just two months previously in update 1.23.
For this time trial you’ll be using the “kouki” — late-generation facelift — model Ks Aero. This is a high-grade model, with the designations coming from the face cards of a regular deck, with the 208hp version of the SR20DET engine and some aerodynamic changes.
You’ll need the vehicle in stock form, so if you’ve been attacking your version with the myriad upgrades available in GT Auto it’ll be a case of waiting for it to pop up in the Used Cars Dealership or borrowing an example through the event itself. In either case, it’ll be on Comfort Soft tires.
The Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit is hosting the Silvia for the time trial. This famous British club circuit — and former home of the British Grand Prix — should be quite challenging, with several tricky corners. Keeping the Silvia from sliding too much and attacking the curbs aggressively on the apex and exit will be key to a good lap.
After the first couple of hours of running here, the world record is a 1:44.0, with the gold cutoff just under 1:47.2. While the record is a whole second faster than the 11th best time as things stand, the nature of the car and track might see some more time to come; if you can get any 1:46 it’ll probably be safe, but aim for a 1:46.8 if you want a more relaxing couple of weeks.
The Scirocco Gr.4 challenge at Laguna Seca still has one more week to run too, and there’s quite a bit of competition at the top of the time sheets. That’s resulted in the top time dropping just under a 1:27.4, with the gold marker now at 1:29.978. With the tight margins on race cars (on race tires), we don’t expect and significant change: a 1:29.8 is probably safe.
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 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 23.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 16 – Brands Hatch
- Track: Brands Hatch – Grand Prix Circuit
- Car: Nissan Silvia (S14) K’s Aero ’96 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Comfort Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 9 – Laguna Seca
- Track: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
- Car: Volkswagen Scirocco Gr.4 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
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