Practice Makes Perfect: It's the Only Way to Win GT7 Time Trials

And that's putting on the PS VR2 headset and playing Gran Turismo 7. I realize it's just a way of escaping reality, but it's the only way to get some seat time on otherwise inaccessible tracks (for the time being). I can't wait to test the new cars from the upcoming update, but I knew there was plenty more content to explore.

I took on GT7's online Time Trial at Suzuka a week ago. The McLaren Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo was shockingly fast, and I never even came close to exploiting its full potential. I went at it for several hours, learning the track and how to control the car. Stopping the clock at 1:42.590, I was in the Top 26,000 players in the world.

I was short of my objective but still somewhat proud of my result. I knew the challenge would continue for a few more days, and I was curious to see how many positions I'd lose. I finished the challenge in 29,917th place out of almost 156,000 competitors. It's nowhere near where I want to be, but with enough practice, I hope I'll climb up the rankings in future challenges this year. Speaking of future challenges, have you considered registering for the World Series 2024 Online Qualifiers? I'm afraid it may be completely out of my league, so I might just stick to time trials for the time being.

Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta

I wasn't too keen to try the KTM X-Bow R '12 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta at first. But I thought it would make for a good warm-up point for GT7's latest trial, which I will discuss in a minute. My only previous experience with Road Atlanta includes watching the Formula Drift events over the years.

As for the KTM car, I've seen one up close but have never driven it. The elevation changes, and blind corners at Road Atlanta make for an exciting drive, and I never imagined it would be this fun. The X-Bow proved to be quite manageable, albeit fairly slow compared to what I've been driving recently.

After four laps, I was at 1:34.08, enough to put me in P 124,523 out of almost 134,000 players. I'm naturally competitive and couldn't accept being that slow, so I went for another session. It became more fun after each lap, and I started to notice my mistakes. After shaving another second and coming up in the Top 100,000 drivers, I decided to move on to the main event.

Autodromo de Interlagos

Set at Autodromo de Interlagos in Brazil, this Time Trial started on April 18 and will end on May 2. We're talking about a 2.677-mile (4.309 km) long counterclockwise layout. There's a mix of high-speed corners and hairpins, and I've had little previous experience here. I have never seen a Jaguar XJ13 '66 up close, but it's easily one of the most beautiful cars ever built.

It's a one-off model, and it's cool that Gran Turismo producer Kazunori Yamauchi drove it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed a few years ago. It has a mid-mounted 5.0-liter V12 with an output of over 500 horsepower. It only weighs 2,200 lbs (998 kg). I feared this RWD race car would be a handful to drive, but I underestimated its potential.

On my first day of driving, the world record sat at 1:32.293 (set by user Jeddah Racing). In recent years, I've dedicated my life to turbocharged machines, but naturally aspirated engines are so smooth and amazing! I was genuinely happy to find such an amazing car in the game, and I couldn't believe I hadn't even thought about driving it sooner. As this is a race car, you can feel the bumps on the track, especially in the final section that leads towards the finish line.

I went up to 175 mph (283 kph) going into the Senna S, which can be quite scary if you miss the braking point. After 11 miles (18 km) of driving, my fastest lap was 1:38.643. I was the 28,652th fastest competitor, but it was still early in the game, and not many people had signed up for the challenge yet. After 68 miles (110 km) into the Time Trial, I improved to 1:37.626, enough to put me in the Top 24,000 drivers. That means I needed 25 laps to improve by seven seconds.

The problem is that I'm all over the place and struggling by this point.  On my next attempt, I recorded my best Sector 1 time in lap six. My best Sector 2 time was in lap three, and my best Sector 3 was in lap four. In the heat of the battle, I started feeling slightly sick, having not taken any breaks in almost two hours. Playing in VR will do that to you, and it's best to stop before it gets any worse. I still wanted another go at it and decided to look at what other competitors were doing to secure gold.

The Jaguar does tend to go sideways if you push it too hard in first, second, and even third gears. It feels rather controllable even when it does, but you're wasting precious time by doing so. Once again, shortshifting in certain corners should help improve traction and lead to a faster lap time. Earlier today, I went at it for one last attempt, bent on driving for at least 30 more minutes before calling it a day. Almost 74,000 people have tried setting a fast lap here at Interlagos by this point.

And I was now down in 41,778th. That's not something I could just live with. After 11 laps, I'm still rather slow. My fastest one was the seventh, as I stopped the clock after 1:37.081. That was enough to improve by almost 6,000 places, and I was determined to try again. The struggle is real, and after five more laps, I can't even match my previous record. I opened up two windows as I was starting to sweat like crazy. And then it happened.

It was an "Eureka" moment as I passed the finish line in 1:36.223. Opting for third gear instead of second in Turn 9 was my best choice. I also realized you need to be on the throttle through Turns 6 and 7 if you want to improve. I'm finally in the Silver Zone! So, as long as you're paying attention, practice does make perfect. I'll report about the next Time Trial as soon as it goes live.