Formula 1 driver Esteban Ocon shared an impressive lap of Suzuka Circuit in Gran Turismo 7, posting the video to his Instagram story where it was subsequently re-posted to X by user @Tzuyutan_x. The clip quickly blew up, racking up over 1 million views in just two days.
The video shows Ocon putting down what appears to be a 1:33.859 in what is likely a Super Formula 23 car, though the specific vehicle isn’t confirmed on screen. The lap is remarkably smooth — almost to the point it looks sped up — but it appears to be legitimate.
To put that time in context: this exact car and track combination has been featured in GT7’s Online Time Trials twice in the past year, giving us a solid baseline for competitive lap times. The leaderboard for the March event was dominated by Gran Turismo World Series drivers, with Kaj de Bruin setting the world record at 1:34.303. World Champion Takuma Miyazono was close behind at 1:34.368, followed by Kylian Drumont at 1:34.385.
Ocon’s time would slot in nearly half a second ahead of that world record pace. Multiple game updates have been released since those times were set and it’s not clear what tires or car setup Ocon was running. It’s not a direct apples-to-apples comparison, but the driving speaks for itself. It’s a clean, composed lap with the kind of precision you’d expect from someone who does this for a living.
Of course, Ocon is no stranger to Gran Turismo.
He was announced as the official GT7 ambassador for PlayStation France ahead of the game’s launch in 2022, and has talked openly about playing the series since he was four years old, starting with Gran Turismo 3. He also captained a French national team in a GT Sport event against Carlos Sainz’s Spain squad back in 2020, where he was reportedly the class of the qualifying field.
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Jordan is the owner of GTPlanet and created the site in 2001. He has closely followed the Gran Turismo franchise and the world of sim-racing for over two decades.