The regular event brings in one of the most-universally loved road cars in the world, as you'll be taking charge of the Honda S2000. This small, sporty convertible was something of an anomaly, with Honda producing rapid front-wheel drive cars and the NSX supercar at the time only to land us with one of the great front-engined, rear-wheel drive two-seaters.
Although it never saw a Type R badge, the S2000 was pretty much all R. Made over two distinct iterations, generations — of which the 1999 car in the game is the first, AP1 model — the S2000 featured a 240hp, two-liter straight four with an absurd 9000rpm limit.
It's quite the contrast to the Mission X time trial, still ongoing, especially as the S2000 will be equipped with Comfort Soft tires and is prone to a bit of a slide through the fast final corner. Currently the record is a 2:12.645, setting gold almost exactly four seconds slower, but we wouldn't be surprised to see some 2:11s once the road car specialists get going. Figure on a 2:15 of some kind to get gold, and probably mid-to-low at that.
A special event is also running over the next two weeks and tying into the Gran Turismo World Series World Finals in Amsterdam. Just like the "Celebration Race" you'll find in the World Circuits menu, it features the Red Bull X2019 Competition and the Nurburgring 24h circuit which will feature in the Nations Cup grand final. The current best time is a flat-6:12, so the gold marker is 6:23.2, but we expect that there's more time to come.
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 — with the special event changing bronze to 500,000cr for a time within 20% of the best.
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 December 5.
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge November 28 – Grand Valley
- Track: Grand Valley Highway-1
- Car: Honda S2000 '99 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Comfort Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Special Lap Time Challenge – Nurburgring 24h
- Track: Nurburgring 24h
- Car: Red Bull X2019 Competition – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (H)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Fixed
Gran Turismo 7 Lap Time Challenge November 21 – Red Bull Ring
- Track: Red Bull Ring
- Car: Porsche Mission X Concept '23 – Garage/Rental Car
- Power/Weight/PP Limit: BOP (M)
- Tires: Racing Soft
- Settings: Fixed
