2012 will see the return of TORA’s core series in much the same shape and form that was seen in 2011. We had a hugely successful year with regards to the technical side of our series in 2011 and so we will be continuing the trend throughout next year.
2012 Intercontinental Sports Car Championship
The ISCC returns with the same multi-class structure established in 2011. Utilising the official game of the American Le Mans Series, Forza Motorsport 4 for the Xbox360, TORA bring back the exhilarating multi-class series and now with the added bonus of 16 cars on track at once. With Prototypes and GT cars vying for position the racing is going to get hectic around some of the new tracks that will feature in the 2012 seasons. The ISCC will no longer be a yearlong battle of endurance, but it will be split down into two localized series, Euro and American. The Euro series will travel to some of the classic TORA venues such as Silverstone, Le Mans and the Nurburgring whilst also visiting some brand new locations such as Hockenheim and the Alps. The American leg will travel the length and breadth of the USA visiting Indianapolis, Road Atlanta, Sebring and Infineon Raceway. More information to come!
2012 TORA GT Championship
After two hugely successful and closely contested series in 2011 the TORA GT returns once again. As the TORA GT is our premier series we will be putting all of our resources into the first 2012 series to make sure it is the closest and most varied championship of its type on Forza Motorsport 4. Each race meeting will once again consist of two thirty minute races which will be combined together to give you an overall score for the night. The championship will travel the globe and test the driver’s skills around some of the world’s most famous race tracks. The cars for the first 2012 season will be designed to match the real life GT cars as much as possible. This means a much closer power to weight ratio to to real GT cars, and to increase the competitiveness of each car. As the cars are based this year on the real thing in terms of their technical regs, then the actual cars themselves must match the real thing as much as possible. Expect to take your pick from cars such as the McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari 458, Mercedes SLS and BMW Z4. The benefit of Forza 4 is that it allows us to include cars that we unfortunately cannot see in real life, so cars such as the Alfa Romeo, Lexus, RUF and many more. Look out for more details soon.
2012 Touring Car Championship
The TCC returns and once again follows the same tried and tested formula that has proven to create some of the best racing TORA has ever seen. Bumper to bumper, door handle to door handle and many a bashing of panels will return early in 2012 with a much longer season planned that will range from short to medium circuits testing both the handling ability and speed of each car. Expect to see the same FWD Turbo Production class cars return for the first season in 2012. Expect to see the Hondas, SEATs, VWs and many other car manufacturers battling it out in this closely contested championship. The TCC will utilize Forza Motorsport 4 once again as it proves to be the most adaptable and customizable platform for us to create this series from.
2012 World Endurance Series
During the TORA 24 at Le Mans in the summer the discussion came up throughout the event of running more real endurance tests and events throughout the year and possibly turning it into a small championship. So for 2012 TORA will be running the TORA World Endurance Series. This series will be open to teams of 5 drivers who compete in 2 hourly stints throughout the event and points will be awarded to the teams at the end of the event. There will be a number of races throughout the year and this series will mimic the most popular endurance races form real life. We kick things off with the Indianapolis 24, based on the Daytona 24 in early 2012 and the series will culminate in December 2012 with the finale around the Nurburgring for 24 hours of the green hell. There will be a variety of cars used throughout the year ranging from Grand-Am to Le Mans cars. More details to follow soon.
2012 Grand Prix World Championship
TORA’s take on Formula 1 returns once again for 2012 but after having such an up and down year in 2011 the series will be going through a major shake-up. No longer will the GPWC follow the real Formula 1 season throughout the year. Instead it will be in much the same vein as the ISCC, two regional championships spread out over a number of months. We have not yet finalized details of this series yet but expect to hear news soon. The series will use the newly released F1 2011 on the Xbox360.
2012 TASCAR Cup
The TASCAR returned in mid-2011 to the elation of a number the member in our community. Based around variety of oval and road courses, the TASCAR will once again become an official TORA championship in 2012 and hopes to benefit greatly from the increased number of available lobby positions in Forza Motorsport 4.
2012 Race Numbers
That’s right, TORA is re-introducing its official race numbers after a long absence. You will finally have your own personal numbers back to use in all future series within TORA from 2012 and beyond. The system has always proven itself to be the easiest and most user friendly numbering system for online racing leagues and it adds a certain personal touch to your online TORA presence. Our original members who had their personal numbers have first choice in retaining them, whereas the remainder are free to be chosen. Once you have requested your number and it has been confirmed, you will appear on the following list in green and you will then allowed to use your TORA numbers for all future series. Current series specific numbers will remain in place until the series is finished.
New Home and New Website
In the upcoming months our home forums and our website will be going through some dramatic changes. Expect to see a new website in October, which will cover not only current races, results, and archives, but we will have our all new ‘Team’ section where all the teams involved in TORA past and present will have their own dedicated sections of the website. We are also bringing back the much missed TORA TV that will not only be showing previews of the race series but full race highlights of selected rounds of the championship. Our forums will also be going through a much needed refresh. We will be saying goodbye to Forumotion and going down a much more modern and easier to use route which will create a much more social atmosphere within TORA. The plan is to retain all of our current posts and history within the current forums, but more details will be released soon.
TORAcast
TORAcast will once again return on a fortnightly basis and will be much more focused on our own home grown series. The podcast will also tie in a lot more closely with TORA TV.
-- Richy59
If you haven't joined TORA yet, head on over to the getting Getting Started section to find out how to get involved when the green flag gets waved.
