A nameplate made globally famous through its appearances in racing games like Gran Turismo 2 is the star of the new Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial, starting today.
Licensing arrangements with car manufacturers are complicated affairs, and are usually the stumbling block that means any given vehicle is not in your preferred driving game — even when it appears in others. It gets even more difficult when brands enter into exclusivity agreements, such as the one between Porsche and EA in the lead up to the Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed.
Aside from a few publishers willing (or able) to sub-licence the brand, this all-but excluded Porsche from appearing in most racing games throughout the late-1990s right up until the mid-2010s when the exclusivity ended. Some developers found a loop-hole though: Ruf.
Ruf was really an enthusiast-known brand at the time, through its efforts to create the first 200mph-capable production road car (missing out to the F40, though Ruf would top it by 10mph that same year) and the amazing “Faszination am Nurburgring” video of its CTR “Yellowbird” lapping the Nordschleife in the hands of Stephan Rozer.
While also providing Porsche modification services, cars like the CTR were built from untouched “body-in-white” Porsche shells and when Ruf was done with them they’d receive their own VIN codes — thus being fully fledged vehicles in their own right. That gave developers like Polyphony Digital the opportunity to licence cars that looked quite a lot like Porsches without needing the Porsche licence.
As the EA/Porsche exclusivity arrangement ended, many games that had used this end-around eschewed Ruf for Porsche, with Gran Turismo the only remaining major racing game to include both brands. You’ll be using the RGT 4.2 — based on the 991-generation 911 GT3 — this week.
You’ll need to fit Sports Soft tires to the car, one grade softer than standard, for this hot-lap event at Fuji International Speedway. Currently the record for the event is a 1:41.509, but we’re expecting that to tumble over the next two weeks; if you want the gold rewards, we’d expect a sub-1:44 to be necessary.
Progress on the second time trial, using the Ferrari GTO (yes, just “GTO”) at Interlagos, has been a little slower than expected over the first week. There’s still seven days remaining though, so anything could happen still.
Barely a tenth has been shaved off the day one record, and only two times globally sit below a 1:40; in fact there’s over a quarter of a second between the second-best and the fifth-best. That does indicate that the current record — 1:39.851 — is pretty close to as fast as possible, and the resulting 1:42.846 gold target is likely going to be the final time. We’d suggest breaking into the 42.7s or even 42.6s for safety.
There’s also another three(ish) days left on the final, special event which serves as the qualifier for the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Virtual Championship. While that’s only going to matter to the top 24 (and a few others, pending eligibility and hoop-jumping), it also operates as a regular time trial event — though with more a generous bronze boundary and reward.
Despite everything, the top time remains in place almost a month after it was first set. That means that the gold target of 1:49.537 — 3% slower than 2021 World Champion Valerio Gallo’s 1:46.347 — is still in place and it’s not likely to drop any further. You might want another tenth for a little extra margin.
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 July 17.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge July 10 – Fuji
- Track: Fuji International Speedway
- Car: Ruf RGT 4.2 ’16 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge July 3 – Interlagos
- Track: Autodromo de Interlagos
- Car: Ferrari GTO ’84 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Medium
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Mercedes-AMG Special Event – Monza
- Track: Autodromo Nazionale Monza
- Car: Mercedes-AMG GT3 ’20 – Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Fixed
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