Another Thursday means another new Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial and, despite the recent update, there’s a familiar car and track for you to get to grips with over the next two weeks.
This week’s event focuses in on a single race car, much like the time trial it just replaced though a good deal less frantic and without the complexities of hydrogen fuel cells and active aerodynamics. Instead we’ll be taking to the track in a relatively simple road car-based racer.
The Gr.4 category in GT7 is broadly equivalent to the real-world GT4, which means road cars that are stripped back to the bare essentials, stiffened up a bit, and then garnished with race-grade components. However this week’s car was already plenty rigid enough, with the tiny Alfa Romeo 4C being built around a carbon fiber tub.
It wasn’t quite the hit it should have been, due to a high price, cramped and underwhelming interior, rough driving manners, and a sluggish DCT gearbox, but we don’t have to deal with any of that in GT7, especially in Gr.4 form.
You’ll be trying to set the fastest time you can in this pint-sized racer around the reworked Trial Mountain Circuit on the Racing Hard tires. Despite this and the short wheelbase and mid-engined layout, it’s a relatively straightforward point-and-squirt lap.
Currently the most successful efforts in doing so are getting down towards a flat two minutes, and with that as a tempting target we reckon that there’ll be 1:59s by the time the event closes in two weeks’ time. That means that while a time just under 2:04 is enough for gold now, we think you’ll need to be closer to a flat 2:03 to keep hold of it.
Last week’s new event, also featuring a fictional Gran Turismo track, still has seven days to run with the goal of muscling the ultimate R34 around Kyoto Driving Park’s handling circuit-esque Yamagiwa loop.
Times are right in our predicted zone right now, with the global record sitting at a 1:42.564. With the dynamic boundaries in the time trials that sets the current gold marker at a 1:45.640, so we’re going to stick with our prediction from last week: 1:45.5 or better should see you home safe with 2m credits.
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 August 7.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge July 31 – Trial Mountain
- Track: Trial Mountain
- Car: Alfa Romeo 4C Gr.4 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge July 24 – Kyoto Driving Park
- Track: Kyoto Driving Park Yamagiwa
- Car: NISMO R34 GT-R Z-Tune ’05 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Medium
- Settings: Fixed
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