A German driving icon is the star of Gran Turismo 7’s newest online time trial event, beginning this morning, as this solo competitive game mode joins in the celebrations of a milestone anniversary.
BMW’s M3, its most enduring M model, celebrates its 40th anniversary this March with an unbroken run since the original E30 was introduced as a homologation special in 1986. Since then it’s been through six generations, adjusting the recipe a little each time but remaining front-engined and rear-wheel drive — with the exception of optional all-wheel drive on the latest models.
The focus of this week’s event comes right in the middle of that run, in the shape of the very first fourth-generation, E92 coupe. This era of the M3 was the only full production model that used V8 power — having been previewed with the homologation special E46 M3 GTR. It was also the last to have a coupe model, with that body style split off from the 3 Series to become a new 4 Series line with the next generation, and the M4 becoming the coupe (and convertible) model of the M3 sedan.
For this week’s time trial you’ll be taking the M3 on its standard Sports Hard tires to the twisty Autopolis International Racing Course. A staple of Super GT and Super Formula, Autopolis never quite got to fulfil its goal of hosting F1 and it won’t take many laps to work out at least one of the myriad reasons why.
The many off-camber corners here will certainly provoke a lot of sliding, especially on the relatively grip-free Sports Hard tires, so the challenge will be keeping the car pointing in a straight line and not watching your time evaporate as tire smoke.
Currently the record for doing this stands at a 2:01.883, and this is the only time below a 2:02 right now. That suggests that there’s not an awful lot of time left on the table as everyone else plays catch-up, so the 2:05.539 target for gold right now is going to be pretty close to the final state of affairs.
Nonetheless, Autopolis is a long and winding course and there’s plenty of opportunity to gain (and lose) time, so we’d suggest trying to get right down to the bottom of the 2:05s for a little security come March 5 when the time trial expires.
Last week’s time trial brought the new 992-generation 911 GT3 R its first hotlap competition, and as we expected there hasn’t been all that much movement. The early leader was reigning double-champion Jose Serrano, and that remains the case even if he’s lowered his time.
It’s not moved much though, dropping by only a tenth of a second (okay, 0.099s), which is good news for gold-chasers as it means the threshold has moved only by about the same amount. While we don’t think that the world champion has left much on the table, we’d still say to aim for a 2:20.1 rather than merely getting past the current 2:20.384 target if you don’t want any nasty surprises next Thursday.
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 26.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge February 19 – Autopolis
- Track: Autopolis International Racing Course
- Car: BMW M3 ’07 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge February 12 – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
- Track: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
- Car: Porsche 911 GT3 R ’22 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Medium
- Settings: Fixed
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