It’s Saint Valentine’s Day this week and Gran Turismo 7‘s Daily Races appropriately focus on one of my first loves: the Subaru Impreza 22B.
As well as a blast around the Red Bull Ring in the Japanese rally homologation special, we have Gr.3 and Gr.4 races at Dragon Trail and Sardegna respectively, featuring an unfortunate return to GT7’s Balance of Performance (BoP) woes…
Sport Mode offers ranked online racing where you will be placed within races based on your previous performances.
As ever, your results in Race A will not affect Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR), so feel free to race as hard as you like. The results for Races B and C do count, however.
RACE A
Race A is a single-make event for the venerable Subaru Impreza 22B-STi. at Austria’s Red Bull Ring. The 22B is a modified WRX with an uprated engine and coupe body inspired by Subaru’s all-conquering World Rally Car of the time.
Subarus tend to have boxer engine layouts; so-called as the pistons ‘punch’ outwards horizontally from the centreline of the engine block (as opposed to the standard vertical layout on most cars). This means the engine can be mounted lower, lowering the centre of gravity and improving its handling.
The car is widely seen as the most beautiful Impreza ever created thanks to its two-door layout and today commands prices of over £250,000 due to its rarity. Perfect for chucking around the wide expanses of Austria’s national circuit…
Directly opposite to Race B last week, the BoP calculations are a little out of kilter this time round. Last week, Polyphony Digital hit the nail on the BoP head, leading to several cars performing equally. It’s how Gr.3 and Gr.4 racing should be, after all.
We’ve been brought back down to earth with a bump now, however, as the Subaru WRX has emerged head and shoulders above the Gr.4 pack once again.
Its four-wheel-drive system no doubt provides epic traction and stability both on and off power around the curves and elevation changes of Sardegna’s Road Track B layout, but it would be nice to see more variety in Gr.4 events in future.
For the second week in a row, we head to Dragon Trail. This time, however, we use the Seaside configuration and it’s the turn of Gr.3 cars.
Dragon Trail’s 3.2-mile long circuit demands respect but has become a fan favourite since its addition to GT Sport in 2017. Due to its wide run-off areas players can push their car right to the edge but there’s no margin for error at ‘The Chicane of Death’.
Setting your car up for this is key to gaining lap time; being on full throttle before its exit will gain boat-loads of speed. Of all Gr.3 cars, the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 is the car to have for Race C, and its tyres will need to be nursed thanks to the 8x tyre wear.
Fuel consumption is set to 3x, but the key factor will be deciding when to fit the Hard or Medium compound tyres. Remember, Dragon Trail Seaside has 17 corners, so it’ll be tough on rubber!
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