As we often see with events following game updates, this week's new time trial features one of the five new cars added to the game in today's 1.48 update in a classic Gran Turismo combo. If you've somehow not already guessed, that's the 1993 Honda Civic SiR-II.
This sporty little hatchback features a free-revving, 1.6-liter engine with Honda's famous VTEC variable valve timing, producing pretty much 160hp. It was pretty much a Civic Type R, but came before the Type R branding was ever applied to a Civic.
The venue for the hot lap event is none other than Tsukuba Circuit. Tsukuba is probably most famous for hosting Time Attack and Super Lap events, as well as Best Motoring's Tsukuba Battle races which were one of the inspirations of the original Gran Turismo.
It's a short, uncomplicated lap and it makes for some pretty quick times. The world's fastest are already reaching the bottom of the 1:11s, meaning that you'll need to — in a stock, 1993 Civic on Comfort Medium tires — hit a low 1:13 to hit gold.
With such a short lap the margins are already pretty fine, so if you can manage to get round in a 1:12 of any kind you'll probably be safe for gold when the event ends in two weeks. 1:12.7 is probably the target to aim for though.
Meanwhile, last week's Porsche 911 time trial at the Nordschleife — almost the polar opposite! — still has another week to go and there's some pretty crazy times now. The current world record is a 7:29.1, which is almost two seconds faster than the third-best and close to a second quicker than we expected.
It does mean that the gold marker has been lowered considerably, and a mid-7:42 is now required to get into the bracket for the 2m reward. We're not going to say it's unbeatable, but it seems unlikely that there's so much left on the road and that's probably going to stand. If you want to be ultra-safe, a 7:42.0 should do the job.
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 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 June 6.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 30 – Tsukuba
- Track: Tsukuba Circuit
- Car: Honda Civic (EG) SiR-II '93 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (L)
- Tires: Comfort Medium
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge May 23 – Nurburgring Nordschleife
- Track: Nurburgring – Nordschleife
- Car: Porsche 911 (993) Carrera RS CS '95 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Sports Hard
- Settings: Fixed
