The Daily Races for Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo 7 are Super Formulaic once again, with more Balance of Performance (BoP) events set to feature through the week commencing the 23rd of May.
With two solid calendar months of restricted Daily Races, GT7 players are beginning to grumble. But at the very least, this week’s races feature more variety than usual thanks to the appearance of Japan’s premier single-seater series – Super Formula.
We also have some guaranteed pack battling in the form of a single-make Volkswagen Golf race at Red Bull Ring’s Short layout, with a Gr.3 race at Monza in Race B to complete the roster.
Since the v1.15 update, Sport Mode also plays host to bi-weekly Lap Time Challenge events – in a similar format to the Daily Races. This week it’s a time trial at Suzuka Circuit using Gr.3 cars.
The venerable Volkswagen Golf GTI has been the hot hatch of choice since 1975. And this, the seventh iteration manufactured between 2013-2017, is no different.
Launching with 220bhp, the front-wheel drive Golf GTI has aggressive looks to more than match its capable handling. It’s the kind of car that can fit a weekly shop in the boot and still be a blast on the back roads home.
Race A takes place at Red Bull Ring Short, meaning a full lap only takes around 1 minute and 11 seconds. The track still features enough straights to create slipstreaming opportunities, however, so this race will be all about staying with the pack and picking your moment to overtake.
We head to Italy for Race B, and the venue for the F1 Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Like the full version of the Red Bull Ring, Monza features long straights ideal for drafting. Unlike Race A, however, the racing is between Gr.3 cars.
In recent times Gr.3 races have been dominated by the four-wheel-drive Mazda Atenza and Subaru WRX, but with very few tight corners around Monza, their advantage has been negated somewhat. Recently, however, the fictional Volkswagen Beetle Gr.3 has proven to be the new class contender, showing its prowess in the last two weeks.
The VW’s BoP figures give it 550bhp and a base weight of 1280kg, compared to the Subaru’s 579bhp and 1300kg, so it’s clear to see there’s still some work to be done on achieving parity in the Gr.3 class. At least the Atenza has been tamed.
With no tyre or fuel multipliers to contend with, this should be an out-and-out sprint race.
The Super Formula Championship (and its former guises) has been a testing ground for some of the best Formula 1 talents in the world, including the likes of Eddie Irvine, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jüri Vips and Stoffel Vandoorne.
These 639bhp cars weigh only 660kg and feature a push to pass system to ensure overtaking in the same manner as DRS, so are an ideal way to prepare drivers for World Championship racing. Toyota and Honda both supply engines for identical Dallara-built chassis and race on F1-grade tracks like Suzuka, Fuji Speedway and this week’s Race C location, Autopolis.
Autopolis features a lot of medium-speed corners but very few overtaking opportunities, so will require precise inputs and a degree of patience behind the wheel. It played host to Round 4 of the 2022 Super Formula Championship – won by Toyota FIA World Endurance Championship driver Ryō Hirakawa.
This 25-minute race uses the Racing Soft tyre which will require a nuanced approach to make them last the distance. The event also features a Grid Start with penalties dished out for false starts, so players will need to avoid jumping the gun.
The new Lap Time Challenge is a simple time trial mode where you compete against other players to set the fastest time on the leader board. As has been the fashion lately, this event is subject to BoP conditions.
The first Lap Time Challenge competition is for Gr.3 cars on Suzuka’s GP layout, and there are plenty of GT3-esque racers to pick from. You could pick Gr.3 stalwarts like the Mazda Atenza, Subaru WRX or Volkswagen Beetle, but why not lean into Suzuka’s place on the Super GT calendar and go for the Subaru BRZ GT300 ’21?
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