...so, to the 7th edition of the "fortnightly" roundup of all things virtual on theonlineracingassociation.com, still trying to find it's own identity within the TORA domain, moving The Outsider to an 8pm UK time release on a forntightly Thursday, either side of the TORA Radio Show on RadioLeMans.com seems the best idea so far, and its not the only all new thing...


...some of you may also have noticed the shape of the new logo within the promotion of the TORA Avon Tyres British GT championship (if you looked really close).

Now, brace yourselfs for a very Forza Motorsport 4 friendly edition of The Outsier...
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TORA's pivotal series, on it's most user-friendly platform, has come to an end, when the guys behind the scenes prepared for the start of season 9 (circa 2012) using the "World GT" formula, the name coined from the FIA GT series that abandoned the hyper-expensive GT1 formula that Maserati ended up conquering, putting the whole idea of balancing the many GT1, GT2 and GT3 cars that Turn 10 provided (Thanks Turn 10), we had NO idea it would be this popular, especially when you add a prize at the end of it, like the one that GT Omega Racing put on offer.

To be quite honest it has been an uphill struggle to find the ideal replacement, "Season 11" which began on Forza 5 reverted back to "production spec" did not go down well with half of TORA's virtual paddock, we had tried a series on NFS Shift 2 Unleashed with minimal success, there were also plenty of GT3 cars on Race Pro, but the handful of owners of the game wasn't enough.

Project Cars has given us a wide choice of modern GT3 and GT4 cars (with a GTe livery snuck in there for some reason), so we have something to look forward to for the future, and hopefully Forza 6 will give us a quandry and possibly re-introduce the "World GT" Formula.

...and so to the "Farewell" series, set up by Fred Leunk and Steven Wilkinson, 6 rounds, 5 double header races as per the TORA GT-norm around the likes of Road America and Silverstone, ended with a 90 minute final round (rewarded with double the virtual dough) around one of the more popular venues, Motegi's "East" Course, using the smaller "club like" pits and start straight on the other side of the Twin-Ring venue outside of the Champcar Oval. A couple of calendar postponements due to real-life commitments, which only helped to build up the anticipation.

16 competitors made it to the final round, with a handful of title contenders deciding not to show, a race that takes as much time as the average F1 race isnt for everyone. Meaning that all Hayden Thompson had to do, in his Allied Forces Cyber Aston Martin, was finish higher than 9th out of the 16, the entries were split into 2 lobbies of 8, so it made Thompson's target easier, qualify for the top lobby, which he did, and to cement the title even further, won the race giving him 240 points, puttingh him 23 clear of the absent Scott McCracken and "The British 1st" who took out "Silver" and "Bronze" respectively.

Haydie T's individual attempt helped secure his Allied Forces Cyber Aston Martin Racing their place at the top of the Team championship, Andy Hunt taking the "Jack Sears Trophy" for drivers gaining the most places from the start to the finish of each race, in the combined 11 races that the series went to with one point per place gained, Hunt basically gained 26 places over the season.

The next TORA GT action is, as mentioned earlier, the TORA Avon Tyres British GT championship, which will be on Project Cars (XOne edition), more info >>>HERE<<<
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The Aussie V8 "World Tour" still roars on, there are two rounds remaining, one small break before that though, events in France grabbing the majority of TORA's real-world attention.

Since I last wrote about the v8s, and their sprints around Sebring, the supercarnival ventured north to the Indianapolis GP course for another set of sprint races, then a trip on Route 66 to Arizona and the Awkward switchbacks of the Sedona club layout, before pointing the trucks in the opposite direction and going to Maple Valley, New Hampshire (yes i know Maple Valley ain't real, just go with it) for a 400 kilometre enduro around the Bathurst-esque rises and dips.

On the tour, the battle for the title is between Ari Barker (Allied Forces Falcon) and Sam James (Happy Cat Falcon), sharing 2 round wins each, Ritchard Mead still being the highest placed Holden Commodoore, Marty O'Donnel's Ford for HappyCat won the opening round of the season but that's the only race he's appeard at. James Brown being the other race winner, there are many Happy Cats here.

The American section of "the tour" is now complete, and after the much-needed break, the v8s will take to Silverstone's International layout where the Grand Prix pits will be demolished again (for probably the last time) ahead of using the old BTCC course, and then a return to the "sueprtest" venue of the Nurburgring GP course for one more endurance race to decide the champion.

More info >>>HERE<<<
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Grass Roots American Muscle, and plenty of it, has kicked off, The Club layout of Road Atlanta, followed by a favourite of series organiser Mike Johannes, Sunset Peninsula's infield Layout, in the reverse direction used by the TORA Season 10 GT opener. Then a coast-to-coast treck from Florida to Monterrey to race around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Zackary Hall has won two out of the three races (Road Atlanta, Laguna), therefore leading the drivers standings, four points clear of Sam James, winner of the 2nd round. While Happy Cat Racing's 'Merican division leads the teams championship ahead of the Allied Forces.

The season will enter it's 2nd half, so for those with an xbox 360, forza motorsport 4, and a weakness for Chrysler vs Ford vs General Motors you can still join >>>HERE<<< (the American rebranding of Japanese Marques have been removed from the entry list since the Outsider last mentioned them)
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Readers in the "Motors TV" friendly regions of Europe and the UK keep an eye out for the TORA Maximum Group V.A.G. Trophy race coverage, for those wondering when they'll be youtubed (and at better quality, sorry Motors) keep an eye out once the complete series of Motors TV based broadcasts are over, one episode a week as per the TV run.