We've got two Gran Turismo 7 Online Time Trials this round, both going live on 24 September 2026 and running for the usual two weeks, ending on 8 October 2026.
There's a clear thread between them. Both put you in a prototype, and both line up with the Gran Turismo World Series Nations Cup Exhibition 2. The Porsche 963 and the BMW M Hybrid V8 are on the car list for this weekend's Gr.1 round at Fuji, and the X2019 closes out the exhibition at Deep Forest Reverse on 17 October. If you're entering either round, this is useful seat time.
Gr.1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta
The first combo is Gr.1 on Racing Medium tyres around Road Atlanta, with a choice between the Porsche 963 '24 and the BMW M Hybrid V8 '25. Gold is set at 1:10.4.
Road Atlanta is 4.09 km with 12 corners and 38 m of elevation change, and it's a fitting home for these two. The circuit near Braselton, Georgia hosts Petit Le Mans, and the BMW did part of its testing here before its race debut.
Both cars arrived in GT7 with update 1.70 in June, and both are LMDh prototypes built to the same rules. The 963 was designed by Porsche and built by Multimatic, and its name nods to the 956 and 962 that raced in the 1980s. It runs a twin-turbo V8 developed from the engine in the Porsche 918. The M Hybrid V8 was built by Dallara around a twin-turbo V8 developed from BMW's M4 DTM engine, and it brought BMW back to top-flight prototype racing for the first time since the V12 LMR in 1999. Both made their race debuts at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona.
With two cars on the list, check the leaderboard to see which one the quick drivers are running before you commit your sessions to it.
The lap is short, so small mistakes show up on the delta straight away. The Esses between turns three and five are where a Gr.1 car's downforce earns its keep, and the rhythm through there is where a lot of the time lives. Turn 12 is the other one to respect. It's a downhill, diving final corner, and a clean exit carries all the way to the line.
Red Bull X2019 at Sainte-Croix Layout B Reverse
The second combo is the Gran Turismo Red Bull X2019 on Racing Soft tyres around Circuit de Sainte-Croix Layout B, run in reverse. You can take either the X2019 Competition or the 25th Anniversary version, and gold is set at 1:37.6.
Layout B is 7.06 km with 14 corners, 44 m of elevation and a longest straight of 915 m, on one of Polyphony's own circuits set in France. Running it backwards moves every braking zone you know, so give yourself a few exploratory laps before you judge the target.
The X2019 Competition was developed from the X2014 Standard and released during GT Sport, as a more realistic version of the Red Bull X series for the FIA-certified Gran Turismo Championships. Earlier versions were considered too fast for most drivers to use well. It also swapped the turbocharged V6 of the earlier cars for a 3.0-litre naturally aspirated V12. Realistic is relative, of course. This is still a single-seat prototype with a V12 behind you.
As with the Gr.1 combo, there are two versions to pick from, so a look at the leaderboard will tell you which one the quick drivers have settled on.
Racing Softs give you the most grip GT7 offers, and the X2019 will use every bit of it. The difficulty is the speed. Braking points arrive sooner than your instincts expect, and a 7 km lap gives you plenty of chances to get one wrong. Brake early, then move the marker later a few metres at a time once the lap is clean. If you put laps into the X2019 at Deep Forest Reverse in August, some of that feel will carry over.
How to Approach Both
Run ghost laps from the top 100 rather than chasing the world-record ghost. A gold-pace reference is far more useful, and far less demoralising, when you're learning where the time is.
Update 1.71 is still the latest physics change, and it changed tyre behaviour when slipping, heating and wear, throttle control, steering geometry, and how traction control and ABS step in. If you haven't driven a high-downforce prototype since it landed, give yourself a session to recalibrate before you start chasing tenths in earnest.
Final Thoughts
A strong fortnight for anyone who likes their cars quick and their downforce high. Road Atlanta in Gr.1 is the precise one, a short lap with gold at 1:10.4 where the Esses and Turn 12 decide most of it. The X2019 at Sainte-Croix B Reverse is about speed and nerve, with a 1:37.6 target on a layout running the wrong way round.
Let us know what you think about these combinations, and which car you ended up running in each.
GT7 Online Time Trials: Gr.1 at Road Atlanta and the Red Bull X2019 at Sainte-Croix B Reverse (24 September 2026)
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