GT7 Online Time Trial: SLS AMG Gr.4 at Willow Springs Big Willow (10 September 2026)

The new Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trial goes live on 10 September 2026 and runs for the usual two weeks, ending on 23 September 2026. This round is a one-make, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gr.4 on Racing Hard tyres around Big Willow, the main circuit at Willow Springs International Raceway.

Big Willow is the fast one. Just under 4 km, nine corners, and hardly a slow one among them, so the lap comes down to how much speed you are willing to carry through long, open sweepers. There is nowhere to hide a scruffy line here. Pairing it with a big front-engined Gr.4 car on the hardest racing tyre makes this a balance test rather than a braking test.

SLS AMG Gr.4 at Big Willow: What to Expect

Gold is set at 1:23.0. The world-best will find its level over the first few days, and around a lap this short the gaps at the top of the board will be tenths, not seconds.

It's a one-make, so there is no car choice to chase. Everyone's in the SLS AMG Gr.4, which makes the whole Time Trial about driving rather than meta-hunting. The road car this is built from was the first Mercedes designed and built from scratch entirely by AMG, a front mid-engined, rear-driven gullwing with a 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 that AMG called the most powerful naturally aspirated production engine in the world when it launched in 2009. The Gr.4 car carries that layout onto the track.

Then there are the tyres. Racing Hards give you the least peak grip of the racing compounds, so the SLS will move around underneath you before it bites, and through corners this long that means managing the balance mid-corner rather than stamping on things.

The lap has a rhythm to it. Turn 2, the Rabbit's Ear, is a double-apex sweeper, and a wrong first apex ruins the second. Turns 3 and 4, the Omega, climb and then drop with a camber change halfway through, so the car goes light exactly where you want it settled. Turn 5 is a quick left that sets up the fastest part of the circuit, and the run from there down to Turn 8, the Sweeper, is where the lap is won or lost. Turn 8 is a high-speed right-hander, and how much speed you carry through it sets up the whole front straight. Turn 9 is the last corner before the line, a right-hander with a big dip before the apex. Lift early and you give away the straight. Carry too much and the dip unsettles the car right where you need it planted.

It's also worth remembering that update 1.71 brought significant changes to tyre behaviour, steering geometry and throttle response. On a lap where nearly every corner is taken at speed, a limit that has moved even slightly matters more than usual, so give yourself a session to recalibrate before you start chasing tenths in earnest.

Final Thoughts

This is a driver's combination. One car, low grip, and a lap of long fast corners with nowhere to hide. Gold at 1:23.0 will take nine corners strung together with no speed scrubbed in any of them, which is a harder ask than it sounds.

Let us know what you think about this combination. It looks like it could be a very interesting one.