The weekly cadence of Gran Turismo 7’s cycle of events waits for no man — not even Saint Nicholas — with the latest Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial now available.
There’s not a lot of room for gifts in the car that you’ll be driving this week, although you may feel a little like Sant-R Claus as you pound out the laps at Japan’s legendary time attack circuit of Tsukuba. Your steed (or reindeer?) for the event is the Honda NSX Type R, in facelifted 2002 guise.
As one of the few cars from the “gentleman’s agreement” era to actually sport the 276hp it was supposed to, the NSX majored on racing technology — placing a free-spinning, 3.2-liter V6 behind the driver and building the vehicle around slippery aerodynamics and an all-aluminum semi-monocoque.
It’s a pretty nimble little thing then, with this Type R model coming in almost 650lb lighter than a Nissan Skyline GT-R of the same era while packing the same power. Well, in theory, though GT-Rs routinely dynoed quite a few ponies higher.
Sports Hard tires will make it a bit tricky to keep the NSX pointing the right way around the point-and-squirt Tsukuba circuit, and the current record is a 1:01.851 — which sets the gold target at 1:03.706 for now. We can see that being beaten down to a low 1:01 by the end of the two-week period, so we’d estimate that you’ll be needing something close to a flat 1:03 to be safely in the gold region.
Along with this final Time Trial of the year, last week’s challenge is still going as you’re trying to lap the full Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya GP course in the madcap Red Bull X2014 Junior.
Times are just about bang-on where we felt they’d be last week, with the current world record now at 1:43.812 — held by time trial specialist Kaj de Bruin. It’s one of only three times in the 1:43s, so we don’t see much more being available and that 1:46.926 gold threshold is probably going to hold. Of course lower is better, so if you can see a 46.8 or a 46.7, it’d be safer to keep going until you hit it.
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 usually 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 January 2.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge December 26 – Tsukuba
- Track: Tsukuba Circuit
- Car: Honda NSX Type R ’02 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Sports Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge December 19 – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
- Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya GP
- Car: Red Bull X2014 Junior – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
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