Why would anyone play Gran Turismo 7 for 90 straight hours?

Last year, record hunter Szabolcs Csépe decided to do something quite extraordinary in Gran Turismo 7. 

Csépe is a video game marathon specialist and holds five Guinness World Records as a result, including records in the Naruto and Tetris series of games, but his record of playing Gran Turismo 7 for 90 continuous hours is arguably his most impressive – and inadvisable – feat.

Between the 29th of June and the 3rd of July 2023, Csépe managed to achieve the ‘Longest videogame marathon playing a racing simulator game’ record, overseen by Guinness World Records. At the same time, he also snatched the ‘Longest videogame marathon playing a racing game’ and the ‘Longest videogame marathon playing a simulation videogame’ records.

Now, some of our readers may argue over the merits of GT7 being described as a simulation, but let’s hear more about how Csépe set about achieving his goal.

Going for gold

The Hungarian sim racing fan had to ensure his record attempt was properly witnessed to satisfy Guinness’ stringent terms, using an Airbnb-style arrangement to house them:

“I hosted all witnesses locally in a guest house,” stated Csépe.

“With all the helping personnel, about 20 people participated in this project. Besides being eyewitnesses, they spent their time with discourse, board games and of course, some video games too.” he continued. Sounds like quite the party there.

Csépe’s goal was to race one lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife’s 24H layout using every car in the game (474 at the time of the challenge), only falling short by 34 in the end.

“My preparation took four months including daily physical training – for upper body, arms, shoulders and neck – and driving practice,” he continued, highlighting the physical demands of not only staying awake for so long but also how sim racing for prolonged periods can take its toll. 

Fortunately, Guinness insists that all such marathon participants must take frequent rest breaks, mandating 10 minutes for every hour of game time. This equated to over 10 hours of rest during the 90-hour record, where Csépe spent time relaxing with Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training. Because he clearly hadn’t done enough gaming…

And what were his favourite cars from the record attempt? “My top three favourites were definitely the Aston Martin Vulcan ’16, the Honda RA272 ’65 and the Ford Sierra RS 500 Cosworth ’87,” stated the Cossie enthusiast, although he did admit to falling asleep at the wheel momentarily, highlighting the negative health effects of undertaking such a feat.

Remember, don’t try this at home!

What do you make of this Gran Turismo 7 marathon? Let us know in the comments below.