With the imminent release of Forza Motorsport 4, TORA will be in the same boat as everyone else with regards to leveling up, testing cars, earning money and understanding the game. We don't want to wait around until January to start racing again with the community, so upon the release of Forza 4 TORA will be running numerous Stock/Spec series. Each series will be weekly and will only run for four weeks maximum. The idea of this is to give all of us some time to adjust to the new game and enjoy racing something different until our regular series start up.
These Stock/Spec series will run with everyone in the same car either, you guessed it, completely stock and unaltered or built to a specific Spec to keep the racing close. As we do not want you guys to burn through your cash we will mainly be using cars that have either been gifted to people from Forza 3, gifted during Forza 4 gameplay or cheap cars that can be bought and upgraded with a reasonable price.
The nights will follow a similar format to our regular series. Sunday nights will consist of Stock/Spec racing that is based around high powered GT/Supercars/Sports cars/Prototypes. Tuesday nights will feature slower, more Touring/Road Car esque racing or something a little different.
To save some cash at the release of the game, we will also be using cars that can be gifted to you through your Forza 3 profile. This was detailed in Forza Motorsport 4: Under the Hood Part 2, where tables were released showing the rewards that you can earn through playing Forza 3. These tables are listed below;
Based on your Forza 3 driver level, you start your Forza 4 garage with these cars. These are player loyalty awards.
If you have any of the above cars in your Forza 3 profile's garage, you start your Forza 4 garage with Forza 4 versions of the same car. These are community loyalty rewards.
As you can see, you can earn a number of cars from the get go just by linking your Forza 3 profile to Forza 4 and having the relavent cars in your garage.
With that in mind we will be kicking things off on Tuesday the 18th of October, a week after the US release and not long after the UK release, with Season 2 of the TORA Abarth Trophy. The cars will be built to a specific spec much like they were in Season 1 and will run for four consecutive weeks ending on the 8th of November. A week after the next TORA Stock/Spec series will then run for the next four weeks. Race format is yet to be decided, but expect to use the cars more than once during the night. Races will be held at 8pm BST.
Sunday the 23rd of October sees the next TORA Stock/Spec series commence, starting off with the Ferrari 458 Cup. The cars will be the standard model or Ferrari 458 found in the game and the cars will be completely stock and locked. This series will also run for four consecutive weeks ending on the 13th of November, and a week after the next Stock/Spec series will start up. As with the Sunday nights, race format is yet to be decided. Races will be held at 8pm BST.
To add a bit of variety to the TORA Stock/Spec series, we will not be choosing the series you will race in after the initial seasons. Instead, we will be leaving the choice up to the Community. At the mid point of each Stock/Spec series we will be putting up a vote for the next series, which will consist of three or four options. These choices can range from Peugeot 908s, V8 Supercars, SuperGT, DTM, Mazda Miatas, Hummers and just about anything else really. We will also be taking suggestiong from the community as to what could feature the the next choices.
This will also continue into 2012, with the TORA Stock/Spec series taking a permanent residence on a Thurday night. The series will be much longer, held over six to eight weeks, but the format will remain with the community picking the series of their choosing from the available options.
TORA will be hosting a night of racing on the Sunday the 16th of October on Forza Motorsport 4. This will not be a night of structured and points centric races, but rather a chance for all of us to get together and test out lobby options, lag and NAT issues and the 16 player lobby ability. During the night we will run anything and everything in a sort of 'Run what you Brung' mentality. Car will generally be 10 PI within each other and we will get to explore the new tracks available.
Thanks for reading and I can't wait to see what we end up racing before the year is out.
(For more info, and to be part of the spec series events, click here)
