Just like last week’s batch of Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races, we visit another three historic venues this week – albeit for different reasons. Monza and Daytona need little introduction for motorsport fans, seeing as they are both home to the most popular forms of racing on either side of the Atlantic Ocean: Formula 1 and NASCAR respectively.
Trial Mountain, on the other hand, is a fictional track first seen way back in 1997’s original Gran Turismo, so holds a special place in the hearts of GT veterans. It’s not just nostalgia, however, as Trial Mountain features a challengingly fun layout.
For Race A, we see a welcome return of car tuning. This game mechanic saw a welcome return in GT7’s single-player campaign but has been strangely under-used online. Races B and C see Gr.4 and Gr.3 back on the agenda, with the cars hopefully having an improved Balance of Performance (BoP)…
As a reminder, we are now using GT7‘s new Balance of Performance (BoP) system, introduced in the v1.19 July update. BoP is now split into three categories depending on the type of track used: High-speed (H), Mid-speed (M) and Low-speed (L).
As of the 30th of May, Race A’s performance will not affect players’ Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR), a trend that was broken in last week’s Daily Races schedule.
We head to Monza for Race A, but it’s the No Chicane layout, meaning players have a free run onto Curva Grande. Car tuning is back, so the key to performing well is to find the most efficiently quick car you can, as top speed is crucial on Italy’s ‘Temple of Speed’.
Power and weight are restricted to 443bhp and 1,300kg respectively, so the best bang for buck arrives in the form of the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. Viewed as Chevy’s halo car until the Corvette switched to the mid-engined C8 in 2020, the ZR1 could accelerate to 60mph in three seconds thanks to a 755bhp V8 engine.
Naturally, BoP chops off 300bhp+ of the ZR-1’s power output immediately, but in terms of tuning, buy as many of the bells and whistles from the Tuning Shop as possible.
For set-up, minimise front and rear ride heights; adjust gear ratios to suit Monza’s long straights and adjust the power restrictor and ballast sliders to ensure you hit the required targets.
Recommended car: Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 ’19 (Brand Central, 134,000 Credits)
Race B
It’s off to Trial Mountain for Race B and one of the most popular GT tracks ever. Its technical nature – featuring elevation changes, narrow radius corners and off-camber braking – means four-wheel-drive cars enjoy a particular advantage over others.
Frankly, that’s not much of a surprise given how Gr.4 races are continuously dominated by total-traction cars. However, this time round, a greater variety of vehicles are matched closely, including the Genesis G70 GR4, the Nissan GT-R and the Alfa Romeo 155 2.5 V6 TI.
Our pick for Race B is the Alfa, however, as not only is it a running example of motorsport history, it’s quite beautiful to look at too. It’s also been our Gr.4 car of choice quite often in the past.
Continuing the theme of déjà vu, Race C’s recommended car is also a returning favourite. The Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept ’18 has been top of the Gr.3 pile on many occasions, and here at Daytona International Speedway’s Road Course layout, it’s a cut above the competition again.
This race features 9x tyre wear, so a pit stop will be required at some stage. The choice will be how long you can brave it out on medium compound tyres before switching to the hards (and vice versa). Fuel consumption is capped at 1x so isn’t a concern, thankfully. Race C uses the High-speed (H) BoP format.
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