Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial: Spirited Away

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The Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trials have refreshed for another week, bringing a new challenge on its regular cycle along with a special event to tie into the Gran Turismo World Series Tokyo event later this month.

It's a point-and-squirt lap in the new challenge, as you'll be heading to the short "East Course" layout at Suzuka. This takes in the main straight and the Esses before cutting back through the infield to restart the lap.

That suits low-weight, low-power cars better than other types, and you'll be using a great example of this kind of car for the time trial: Mazda's Roadster NR-A. Essentially an off-the-shelf, track-prepped version of the famous MX-5, the NR-A is pretty much ready for one of the world's most enthralling race series.

You'll need to pick up some Sports Hard tires for the car — rather than the standard Comfort Soft — although you can borrow a car for the event with the right tires already fitted. Then just head out for one of the shortest laps in the game.

Currently the best times are dipping into the top-end of a minute flat, at around 1:00.8. We think it's probably unlikely that anyone will get down into the 59-second range as there's just not that much time to find, but a low 1:00 should be possible. That means gold — and its 2m credit reward — may settle at around 1:01.8.

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The Corvette event which began last week still has another week to go too, and while we were mostly spot-on with our gold estimates there's one player who just has to outshine the rest. This player has a time almost half a second ahead of the rest now at 1:52.494 and that means the gold marker is a lot lower than we'd thought at a 1:55.868.

Another Time Trial is also available as a bonus event, running through to Thursday October 3. This will use the same format as hot-lap qualifying for the Gran Turismo World Series Round 3 Tokyo Nations Cup event on September 28, with a Red Bull X2019 Competition on Racing Soft tires lapping Grand Valley Highway-1.

Early top times are in the low 1:26s, but we don't think a 1:25 is far off. In that case, expect to need a 1:28.3 or better for gold. Also note that the bronze threshold is much lower than usual, at +20%, and awards twice the usual prize money.

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 September 26.

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Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge September 19 – Suzuka

• Track: Suzuka East Short Course
• Car: Mazda Roadster (ND) NR-A '22 – Garage/Rental Car
• Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
• Tires: Sports Hard
• Settings: Fixed

Gran Turismo 7 Special Lap Time Challenge September 19 – Grand Valley

• Track: Grand Valley Highway-1
• Car: Red Bull X2019 Competition – Garage/Rental Car
• Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
• Tires: Racing Soft
• Settings: Fixed

Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge September 12 – Dragon Trail Seaside

• Track: Dragon Trail Seaside
• Car: Chevrolet Corvette (C4) ZR-1 '89 – Garage/Rental Car
• Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
• Tires: Sports Hard
• Settings: Fixed