You'll be heading towards the west side of the USA for the hot-lap event, which offers up to 2m credits if you can set a time within 3% of the fastest players in the world. However that's a drop in the ocean if you want to buy the car for the event yourself.
That's because it's one of the game's 20,000,000cr unicorns, in the shape of the 1952 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. Mercedes made just ten examples of this legendary racing sports car — which won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Carrera Panamericana that year — and it spawned the famous gullwinged 300SL in 1954.
Your challenge for the next two weeks is a nod to that second event, as you'll be trying to set the fastest lap time you can at the Big Willow course at Willow Springs. Fortunately you can borrow the car for the race, although it is currently available to purchase in the Legends Cars Dealer if you want to splash out.
This fast road course will require quite some care if you want the fastest time possible in the classic Mercedes, especially given the Comfort Medium tires required. However the early time sheets are showing players just dipping into the 1:32s now — requiring a 1:35.5 in order to hit gold.
Given that there's very few braking points on this nine-corner course, we don't think that times will tumble too much but aiming for a 1:34.9 is probably wise if you want the 2m credit reward.
One week remains on both of the other time trials too. You'll need to be getting close to a minute flat in both events to take the gold, with the Red Bull Ring event's marker at 1:00.280, and the special GTWS tie-in challenge currently at 1:00.851. In both cases, any sub-minute lap should be safe and sound.
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 — although the X2019 event sets bronze at +20% and awards 500,000cr.
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 July 11.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge July 4 – Willow Springs
- Track: Willow Springs – Big Willos
- Car: Mercedes-Benz 300SL (W194) '52 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Comfort Medium
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge June 27 – Red Bull Ring
- Track: Red Bull Ring – Short Track
- Car: BMW M3 (E30) Sport Evo '89 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Sports Hard
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Special Lap Time Challenge – Road Atlanta
- Track: Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
- Car: Gran Turismo Red Bull X2019 Competition – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Fixed
