Time Trials

Updated: 4 minutes to read

Time Trial is a Freemode activity that requires you to go from point A to point B under par time. You can use any normal land vehicle you own and take any route.

Rockstar rotates the active Time Trial every week along with weekly discounts and Double Rewards. In each week, when you successfully complete the active Time Trial under par time for the first time, you get an $100,000 bonus.

The Time Trial is shown on the map as a purple stopwatch icon. Go to the location marked by the icon to start the Time Trial. If no such icon exists on your map, you may have hidden it before; to unhide it, in the Interaction Menu, choose “Hide Options > Other > Time Trial”, and change it to “Show”.

The Time Trial icon on the map

Guides

GTA Series Videos has guides demonstrating how to complete each Time Trial under par time.

The 2016 Series and 2018 Series cover the same 22 Time Trials, but in almost all of the 2016 Series videos, Pegassi Bati 801 was used, whereas newer vehicles like Shitzu Hakuchou Drag and Ocelot Pariah were used in the 2018 Series. The 2019 Series, on the other hand, covers a brand new set of Time Trials Rockstar added to GTA Online in the end of 2019.

The Shitzu Hakuchou Drag used in most of the 2018 and 2019 Series demos would definitely make completing Time Trials under par time easy; in fact, in those demos, the recorder could often complete the Time Trial more than 10 seconds in advance. But, this motorcycle costs $976,000, so you need to complete 10 Time Trials under par time to earn the money back.

Note: Don’t confuse Hakuchou Drag with Hakuchou, which is another model sold at $82,000. The Hakuchou Drag has better performance in acceleration.

If you’d like to have a vehicle that is both fast and cheap, then Pegassi Bati 801 is your best choice. You only need as little as $15,000 for a vehicle that is capable of helping you complete most Time Trials under par time. It is not as fast as Hakuchou Drag; if you depend on it to beat the par time, you have to keep doing wheelies for as longer time as possible, and you will often find yourself being only one or two seconds apart from the par time. You might have observed this in the 2016 Series demos.

Here are several Time Trials I have completed under par time using Bati 801 with all upgrades maxed out, including some new Time Trials in the 2019 Series. You can see that I barely beat the par time of each Time Trial, but it was still doable with numerous attempts. For each Time Trial, I used the same route suggested by GTA Series Videos’ guide.

  • LSIA II: 02:22.489/02:24.000 LSIA II
  • Pillbox Hill: 02:11.595/02:16.000 Pillbox Hill
  • Elysian Island II: 01:46.880/01:50.000 Elysian Island II
  • Lake Vinewood Estates: 01:25.280/01:26.000 Lake Vinewood Estates
  • Del Perro Pier: 01:40.313/01:43.200 Del Perro Pier
  • End to End: 04:08.411/04:09.500 End to End

Note: Another variant, Pegassi Bati 801RR, can also be purchased at the same price. They should have negligible difference in performance and only differ in appearance.

Remember to Take Breaks

Personally, I often find myself retrying a Time Trial over and over again without passing it, even if I do it with the Hakuchou Drag when it is used in the guide from GTA Series Videos sometimes. It is completely normal if you need many attempts to beat the par time.

When the sky turns dark, or the weather becomes rainy, it’s time to have a rest. Should you keep retrying, the bad ambient condition will only make the Time Trial harder. Come back after sunrise or after the ground becomes dry again, and you might get better performance as the result of relaxing.

Other Tips

  • Although Passive Mode will be automatically enabled when you start a Time Trial, I would still suggest you do the Time Trial in an Invite Only Session. If you pass other players who frighten nearby NPCs, those NPCs will drive recklessly and thus interfere with your performance.

  • It would be great if you can have a passive business running while you are attempting the Time Trial, so after beating the par time, you can sell from the business to earn more money.

  • If you think you have almost stayed in the current session for 48 real-life minutes (1 in-game day), you should start a new session if you want to avoid the daily property utility charges.