The recent America-themed events continue with the latest Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial, available from today and running over the next couple of weeks.
A trip to Laguna Seca makes it the fifth visit to North American circuits in the last six weeks and, like last week’s odd-one out event at Deep Forest and the Daytona oval challenge, we’ll be driving an American car too.
There is a little confusion on the in-game tile as to the exact flavor of Shelby Mustang but it’s very definitely a modern version rather than the classic suggested in the text, as the 2016 GT350R stars.
This heavily tweaked sixth-gen Mustang features significant changes from top to toe, with reworked suspension, brakes, wheels, tires, gearbox, and — as a headline-grabber — the newly flat-plane crank Voodoo 5.2-liter V8.
You’ll be undoing a bit of that work, with the Shelby required to use Racing Hard tires for the event, as you aim to go as fast as possible. Currently the record for that is a 1:26.122, and while that’s actually pretty comfortable — there’s a 0.4s gap to third — we’re sure that breaking the 1:26 mark will look pretty tempting to top players.
As a result the current gold target of 1:28.705 is likely to slip downwards over the next 14 days, but probably only into the mid- to low-1:28 zone. We reckon a 1:28.5 will be a probable gold, but it’d be worth trying to get into the 1:28.2s.
The previous week’s Time Trial event remains in place, with the appropriately anachronistic DeLorean taking in laps of Deep Forest.
Times haven’t quite fallen as far as we expected yet, with only a couple of tenths shaved off in the past seven days. Currently the world record sits at a 1:47.228, which sets the gold target at a 1:50.444. Given the relative lack of movement, we’re not anticipating much by way of further drops so if you’re already at the recommended 1:50.150 from last week there’s a good chance you’re safe enough.
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 May 8.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 1 – Laguna Seca
- Track: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
- Car: Ford Shelby Mustang GT350R ’16 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge April 24 – Deep Forest
- Track: Deep Forest Reverse
- Car: DMC DeLorean S2 ’04 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Hard
- Settings: Fixed
See more articles on Gran Turismo 7 Time Trial.
