The regularly scheduled competitive events in Gran Turismo 7 continue their weekly cycle, with a new Online Time Trial challenge available from this morning and running for the next 14 days.
We often see the lineup of the time trials, which feature two events at once running in a staggered fashion, bringing one road car and one race car to allow for the different preferences to get something to suit them. That’s kind of the case this week, but with a twist as the previous challenge in the Mercedes C63S has run out of time to be replaced with the new one.
Coming in to replace it isn’t a road car exactly, but a vehicle that in theory previews one. That’s the Mazda RX-Vision, a rotary-engined coupe first presented by Mazda at the Tokyo Motor Show in October 2015. Gran Turismo fans might be more familiar with the GT3 car based on this vehicle — shown off at the GT World Series finals in Monaco in 2019 — but the original concept was sneaked into GT7’s car list at launch.
Although the name (and the fact GT is the only game where you can drive it) may mislead, neither car has anything to do with the “Vision Gran Turismo” project. It’s simply a regular concept car, of the kind that’s featured in the GT series since the first title and pretty prominently in 2001-2002’s Gran Turismo Concept titles.
The RX-Vision is a peach though. It essentially distills the modern Mazda “kodo” design language (clothed in the spectacular, if hard to repair, Soul Red) into a rotary-engined coupe that the brand has been suggesting for years — while not actually making yet. Still, you get to enjoy the fruits of the virtual world in taking the car and its screaming quad-rotor around Red Bull Ring on Sports Medium tires for as many laps as you like.
Currently the world record for doing so is a 1:32.290, which sets the gold target at a 1:35.058 but this is dynamic and will lower if that top time falls — always to within 3% of the record. It’s early days, but the times are starting to cluster up so we’d figure on something high in the 1:34s, around a 1:34.7, will eventually be required.
Two other events remain in place for another week as well. The first features the new Xiaomi SU7 Ultra at Monza and while times have dropped they’re not quite as low as we expected yet.
At present the record here is a 1:45.412, placing gold at a 1:48.574 for now. We’d still say that a 1:48.2 will be enough (and probably by a decent margin), and don’t forget you’ll need to mash the overtake button for the lowest time possible.
Meanwhile there’s also an event featuring the new Hyundai Elantra TC which awards real-world prizes, for which you’ll need to register your time on the leaderboard on the N Owners Club website. It’s also a regular time trial offering regular time trial prizes, and the record for the N24 lap required currently sits at 8:48.877. Gold is therefore 9:04.743 right now, and while it’s tough to know how far that could fall on a long track like this one we’d say anything under 9:00 will be plenty to score the 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 February 12.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge February 5 – Red Bull Ring
- Track: Red Bull Ring
- Car: Mazda RX-Vision ’15 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Medium
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge January 29 – Monza
- Track: Autodrome Nazionale Monza
- Car: Xiaomi SU7 Ultra ’25 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Sports Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge January 29 – Nurburgring
- Track: Nurburgring 24h
- Car: Hyundai Elantra N TC ’24 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Hard
- Settings: Fixed
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