This week’s Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial swaps raw pace for finesse, dropping the tiny Renault R8 Gordini ‘66 onto the twisty Horse Thief Mile. It’s a deliberately unglamorous pairing: a lightweight sixties economy car with modest power, set loose on one of the game’s tighter, more technical layouts. Don’t expect to be chasing big speed numbers here.

That combination is the whole point. Underpowered cars on demanding circuits tend to reward the drivers who can carry momentum, protect their exit speed, and avoid scrubbing time in the slow stuff. With little grunt to bail you out of a mistake, every early apex and clumsy brake application shows up on the timesheet. It’s the kind of event where a clean, disciplined lap beats a fast-but-messy one.

Alongside the Time Trial, a qualifier for the Mercedes-AMG Virtual Championship has opened at Spa-Francorchamps, giving players with more competitive ambitions a proper high-speed venue to test themselves against.

Why it matters to sim racers: these weekly Time Trials remain one of the most low-pressure ways to sharpen your craft in GT7. There’s no wheel-to-wheel chaos to manage, no penalty roulette — just you, the clock, and a global leaderboard to measure yourself against. A car like the Gordini strips the exercise back to fundamentals: throttle control, line, and consistency, rather than leaning on outright grip and power. If your racecraft has plateaued, a week spent hunting tenths in a slow car on a fiddly track is genuinely useful practice, and it’s free content that resets often enough to keep coming back to. For the more serious crowd, the Spa qualifier is worth a look before the window closes.

Originally reported by GTPlanet.