SELECT COVERAGE BY DAY:It’s elimination day; the thirteenth running of the Street Car Super Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been marred by crashes and oildowns. By the end of the day we’ll have crowned event winners and put the finishing touches on what has been a marathon event.

May 04, 2007  The amazingly efficient 454-inch LSX-blocked engine in Reggie's car cranks out over 640 hp and 610 lb-ft of torque from pump gas. Besides the LSX block, several one-off. Thanks for purchasing the PROJECT TORQUE T SHIRT hope you like it.

Currently the bracket cars are on track, and the big boys should be headed out around 11AM barring any further issues. Stay tuned!Brian Macy is driving The EFI Store-backed, Darrin Meroniuk 1863 Nova in 275 Radial. Remember the car I mentioned last night owned by Eddy Whipple? Well, this is Eddy’s old car, which is now in Meroniuk’s hands. Apparently both were at a race in Spokane along with Macy when Macy was driving the black EFI Store Willys, and when the Willys broke, Macy and Meroniuk spent the rest of the weekend supporting Whipple. Confused yet?

So the whole time they were there at this race, Meroniuk was eyeing up the Nova, and eventually offered Whipple the trade option, and the two swapped cars.Today, the car sports a 434 cubic-inch small-block Chevy with 18-degree Dart heads and a Bowtie block. A pair of 72 mm turbochargers, 25 psi boost pressure, and gasoline fuel have combined to help the car into the 4-second zone. So far they’ve been a best of 4.95 with only three hits on the car. He was eliminated in the class, but with so few hits on the car they are looking to be a serious player. They recently upgraded the car to use a Turbo 400 transmission with second-gear-leave option to help build boost and get the car out of the hole more quickly. All it takes is a gear ratio change, and they can go back to using all three gears for quarter-mile racing. The transmission has an upgraded valve body which allows transbrake activation in both first and second gear.

Macy says all vehicle operations are operated through a Holley Dominator EFI system–which makes sense given that he earns his living as an EFI tuner. This car was just finished up a few days ago in time for the event, and they are very pleased with its initial performance.“I’m happy we’re in the 4s,” said Macy. “That’s what we were looking for.”. This is your winning elapsed time in the Outlaw Pro Mod class for the 2017 Street Car Super Nationals. The Q80 Racing Team of Jose Gonzalez and Eric Dillard had one heck of a weekend. They were shooting for a monster pass in the 5.20s and went 5.440 today, but it wasn’t without its challenges. My understanding is that in the pursuit of these elapsed times, the team went through a number of transmissions and at least one broken rear, and simply didn’t have the data they needed to put the big tuneup in the car.

Even so, they put a monster 275.45 mph on the boards earlier today. In the other lane of the final round, John Stanley got out of shape and had to lift early, ending his chances to take home the big prize.Freddy Bueno’s ’63 Nova is a work of art. The 25.3 chassis was done in-house at Freddy’s Fab Workz, and the car boasts one of Bischoff Engine Service’s 462 cubic-inch small-block Chevrolet engines topped off with one of Robert Lane’s Fast Lane nitrous systems. Freddy’s dad Javier painted the car its gorgeous orange shade.“Eric Mitchell is helping us with the nitrous tuning. Having him tune for us is a game changer,” he said.The car still rides on Calvert leafs and went a 1.09 short time in a quarterfinal loss to Chris Groves when the car popped around halftrack. With such limited time on the car, they’ve still turned in a best elapsed time of 4.59, showing that with Bueno’s chassis tune and Mitchell’s nitrous tune this car will be a player in the West Coast 275 wars. Matt Paris made the long trek over the hill from Longmont, Colorado with his pretty ’57 Chevy to run in the XDR class. It features a 565 cubic-inch with Big Duke heads and one of Fast Lane’s nitrous systems.

This is their first time on radials and they’ve turned in a personal best of 5.02 at 140 mph. The 3,550-pound car normally runs in around 8,500 Density Altitude compared to the 2,500 or so we’re seeing here, so Matt’s sneaking up on the tuneup with baby steps.This beautiful engine belongs to former PSCA Wild Street champion Dee Pfnister.

The XDR car has been completely revamped with a 585 ci engine and old-school F-3R ProCharger supercharger.“This is our first good weekend for shakedown passes; we went from 5.14 to 4.73 in just a few passes and are trying to figure out the converter and stuff like that. I’m working with Joe Rivera at Pro Torque on that. Kevin Mullins from TKM built the engine,” he said. Pfnister went down to Ryan Jones in the semifinal round.Earlier this weekend Steve Nicholson told us he had something for the Outlaw 10.5 class from his Sonny’s-powered Sting Ray and he did. How does three Outlaw 10.5 wins in four years sound? We think this guy has the class–and the Street Car Super Nationals–figured out. Mike Bowman is on a tear in his Pro Mod over the last little bit here.

Not only did he outlast Carl Stevens in the final round, this marks his second SCSN win in a row. His winner’s circle photo is graced by Camp Stanley, who never met a celebration he didn’t like.I found it interesting that a few of the racers I spoke with over the weekend who told me they were on to something with their combinations were able to back up the talk and walk the walk when push came to shove. Despite showing up with an all-new combo, Giuseppe Gentile was able to not only capture the runner-up spot in Outlaw 10.5, but also take home the big prize in the Big Tire No Time class.Speaking of Camp Stanley, if the rumors of the team’s retirement are true, they are going out on top of the world.

Not only did they capture the runner-up spot in Outlaw Pro Mod, Stanley also tuned the CTS-V to the record for the world’s fastest blown doorslammer, sending John down the track to a monster 266.74 mph pass.If you’re wondering where Krusty Ramsey was with his well-known Outlaw 8.5 nitroused Malibu, here’s where–tuning his wife Meghan’s stock-bottom-end LS-powered Mustang in the 235 Limited class. Meghan acquitted herself well as a driver, running a best pass of 5.55 in a quarterfinal loss to number-three-qualifier David Holtgrew. Mike Silva captured the class win in his slick silver Nova over Richard Shelley’s Mercury Capri.And how about Ryan “Toaster” Jones in his killer Nova?

Toaster made a bunch of changes to his ride, leaving the Outlaw 8.5 class he’s dominated over the last couple of years, and entered the Xtreme Drag Radial class. Those changes included switching the car over to alcohol, removing the intercooler, and setting it up to run in this class. It took them until the last qualifying session to figure the car out, and Toaster eventually turned in a 4.41 to jump to the second spot in XDR behind Norman Chamg, and tuned the car to a final-round finish, where he went down to Chang after the car lost traction and he had to lift.Final Elimination Results.235 Limited/Turbo Pro Mod/Outlaw Pro Mod.Outlaw 10.5.XDR.

Project Torque was the free North American version of Level-R. It is a multiplayer onlineracing game (MMORG) with partially chargeable content, or micro-transactions. It features gameplay elements such as tuning and customization. The game is titled as Level R in Europe with a slightly different game interface and menus. Europe, US, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, and Japan versions, are developed by Invictus Games and are subject to Invictus copyright.

Level-R was originally developed for the Japan market in 2006, which was based on CRC2005. The Level-R versions across the world will all be the same with minor physics and content tweaks. The current build, Julia, was released on June 3, 2010.

The Level-R versions combined with the Project Torque version have 64 cars in total. None of the versions have all 64 cars due to licensing issues, and any version may not receive a certain car if it does not gain proper licensing. The 2019 version, however, has no licensed cars, nor does it have cars from post-2010 builds, such as the Corus R4 or certain Thunder Alley cars.

As of July 31, 2010, the Project Torque service, hosted by Aeria Games Entertainment, is no longer in service. Invictus Games Ltd. signed a deal with Innologin Ltd. to publish a new North American service of Level-R, called Heat Online.^[1][2]

As of May 1, 2014, the HEAT Online service has been discontinued.

In August 2019 fans of Level-R and Project Torque started a crowdfunding campaign for $10,000 to get the game back online.^[3] The funds were supposed to cover contract and legal fees for gaining the publishing rights to Project Torque from Invictus Games.^[4] The campaign goal was reached^[3] and in late August 2019 Jogara Ltd., a fan-run company, signed the publishing contract.

In December 2019 game was re-released on Steam and is now available to download Here.

Game modes[edit]

Project Torque features various cars, some of them being licensed version of actual production cars while others are imitations. It features a variety of game modes such as Simulation, Arcade, and Thunder Alley.^[5] CTF and Drift modes were removed after the release of version 'Julia.' As of March 15, 2012, the service of Level R has been shut down.^[6]

Simulation[edit]

Simulation is a mode designed to portray the realism of racing. With recent updates, the mode has become a mix of arcade and simulation mechanics. Differences from arcade mode is less forgiving steering, cosmetic and mechanical damage, and bonus points rewarded for racing in simulation mode. This mode features up to 2–8 players and a variety of tracks that can be raced on 3, 5, or 7 lap segments.

Arcade[edit]

Arcade is a mode similar to most other racing video games. Unlike simulation mode, it has an easier steering system, a 'no collision' system, and no mechanical damage. This mode features up to 2–8 players and a variety of tracks that can be raced on 3, 5, or 7 lap segments. Newer players to the game will only be able to race in arcade mode until they unlock access to simulation mode tracks.

Thunder Alley[edit]

Thunder Alley is very similar to NASCAR. It is one of the most popular modes of Project Torque and includes three classes of cars: Rookie, Pro, and Intimidator. The Rookie class is similar to the NASCAR Featherlite Modified series, the Pro class to the NASCAR Sprint Cup (Car of Tomorrow car with wing), and the Intimidator class to the NASCAR Nationwide series.

Thunder Alley mode provides a wind tunnel mechanic and a fuel consumption mechanic that the other racing modes lack. Currently there are two tracks for this mode, one resembling Talladega, the other Bristol. The mode features the ability to race up to 20 players, and to run up to 60 laps a race. Unlike the NASCAR series where they have caution flags, Thunder Alley has a penalty system that forces a driver to do a pass through the pit lane when the driver breaks too many violations. This system, however, has been criticized for the inaccuracy of the penalties as it would penalize a victim of another driver's faults.

Drag[edit]

Drag is a mode where 2–4 players line up in a quarter or a half mile strip to smoke some rubber and see who is the fastest racer. You have to shift manually in Drag mode, as it requires shifting at the right RPM to gain a faster run. Drag mode also features a different engine damage system, compared to other modes, which makes the engine blow up from improper shifting. A drag race session can involve multiple heat runs, and the player with the best set of heats wins.

Capture the Flag[edit]

Capture the Flag is an arena 'cat and mouse' type mode played with 2–8 players. One player grabs the flag and runs through checkpoints, while other players try to grab the flag away by running into the flag carrier. The flag holder can also lose the flag by repairing, recovering, or rolling their car over. The player who scores the most points wins. Players gain points by holding the flag for long periods, running through checkpoints with the flag, or stealing the flag.

Drift[edit]

Drifting is a 2–8 player mode that uses the same tracks as simulation and arcade modes, but lap times and position do not matter. Rather the winner of a drift round is determined by how many drift points the players can score. Drift points are determined by angle (of the car in the curve), speed, length of the drift, and the drift multiplier. A unique feature of the drift mode is the ability to use specialized drifting cars, one of which resembles the Falken Mustang driven by Vaughn Gittin.

Invictus controversy[edit]

In October 2009, the developer company of Project Torque, Invictus, issued an IP ban of all non-US accounts on Project Torque.^[7][8][9] The reason is to be believed that the Europe publisher of Level-R, gamigo AG, filed a complaint concerning a breach in contract because Europe players were playing Project Torque which is claimed to be a North America only version.^[10]Aeria Games & Entertainment (AGE) had to comply with the IP ban, and as a result the player base of Project Torque dramatically decreased. Fellow users of Project Torque gathered together in an attempt to dodge the IP bans in forms of Proxies and VPN clients, but the tools used to dodge the IP Bans became blocked as well.

Soon after the IP ban was issued, Invictus stated that they would no longer support the Project Torque version of their game which was very different from the Level-R version.^{[citation needed]} This means that Project Torque would not receive anymore special builds from Invictus. On May 24, 2010, AGE had announced that a new build, Julia, was coming to Project Torque.^[11] CTF and Drift modes would be removed from the game, there would be a GUI refresh, and a few new modes added. However, the patch did not promise a lift of the IP ban of non-US IPs. On the morning of June 3, 2010, the Julia build was released as a current, but 'open beta,' version of the game.^[12] There was much criticism from the build as it was similar to the Level-R version, and the patch removed all the unique features that had made Project TorqueDistance formula calculator step by step. popular.

Reception[edit]

The game's critical reception was average. Some users have complained about the change in the steering mechanics from some builds, and the inability to sell cars.

MMO Huts gave Project Torque a 'Good' rating saying, 'Project Torque is a really polished and fun racing MMO.'^[13] They also noted the beautiful graphics compared to other MMO games, and the solid gameplay. Users gave it a 3.99/5 rating.

MMORPG Center rated Project Torque an 8.0/10. 'Overall Project Feature is a great online racing game, played in small sessions or sometimes you will want more and more.'^[14] Users on MMORPG Center gave Project Torque a 9.3/10.

Swift World rated Project Torque a 7/10 for great gameplay, but mentioned the lack of players during the time.^[15] Users of Swift World rated Project Torque a 9.7/10.

Kei Beneza of OnRPG said, 'If I were to judge this game, I would say that the game is a lot better than most of the racing games out there.'^[16] He noted that the game had great graphics, was able to run on low-end PCs, and had a simple solution to connection-lag during races.

The end[edit]

On July 8, 2010, Aeria Games announced that they could no longer support the running of Project Torque, and that the game would be completely shut down on August 2, 2010.^[17][18] Aeria also stated that they will hold a series of events, refund AP (Aeria cash currency) to players who had spent AP in the past 90 days, and even grant access to 'hidden content' that had never been released before.

On July 29, 2010, Invictus announced a new publisher for Project Torque. The game would be called HEAT Online, and would be hosted by the publisher, Innologin Ltd.^[19][20] The publishers are allowing people to try the game as guest accounts before registering under the Innologin service.

On July 31, 2010, Aeria Games shut down the servers for Project Torque. The download for the game was taken down shortly after.

On August 1, 2010, the Project Torque forums were shut down except the general discussion area. Aeria Games left open a 'Project Torque Community' section on their forums for the players to stay in touch.

On February 15, 2014, Invictus Games Ltd. announced that they will discontinue service of HEAT Online.

On May 1, 2014, Invictus discontinued service of HEAT Online.

A few months later, after HEAT Online's servers discontinuation, the download and forums for the game were taken down.

An attempt by Killz Gaming community to save the game with a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign failed.

The reason for this was the high amount of money needed to buy the game from Invictus Gaming.

In addition, many players had already lost their account several times due to rebranding.

It became clear that the community was not prepared to invest in the game once again.

The Kickstart project ended on 5 September 2014 with only a few backers.

It was released on Steam on 20 December 2019^[21]

References[edit]

1. ^Heat Online
2. ^Invictus Games Ltd. (July 29, 2010). 'Level-R: new service in North America'. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
3. ^ ^ab'We did it! » Project Torque'. Project Torque. 2019-08-08. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
4. ^'Invictus Games'. www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-09-02.
5. ^Aeria Games & Entertainment. 'Game Modes - Project Torque'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
6. ^'Heat Online forum Post By LEAD GM'. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
7. ^Aeria Games & Entertainment (October 9, 2009). 'Invictus Announcement of IP Blocking'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
8. ^Invictus Games Ltd. (October 8, 2009). 'Licensed Territory Compliance Program'. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
9. ^Nerion (Gamigo Product Manager) (October 12, 2009). 'Licensed Territory Compliance Program'. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
10. ^Nerion (Gamigo Product Manager) (November 10, 2009). 'Opinion on the IP block'. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
11. ^Aeria Games & Entertainment (May 24, 2010). 'New Update coming to PT'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
12. ^Aeria Games & Entertainment (June 3, 2010). 'Julia is here!'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
13. ^Altay, Omer (MMO Huts). 'Project Torque Game Review'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
14. ^MMORPG Center (June 8, 2008). 'Project Torque - Review'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
15. ^Swift (Swift World) (October 28, 2007). 'Project Torque Review'. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
16. ^Kei Beneza (OnRPG). 'Project Torque Review: Better Than Most Racing Games'. Retrieved June 6, 2010.
17. ^Aeria Games (July 8, 2010). 'Project Torque Notice - Servers will be Closing'. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
18. ^GM_1fastcrx (July 8, 2010). 'Project Torque Notice - Servers will be Closing(Forum Thread)'. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
19. ^Invictus Ltd. (July 29, 2010). 'Level-R: new service in North America'. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
20. ^Innologin Ltd. (July 29, 2010). 'HEAT Online'. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
21. ^'Project Torque - Free 2 Play MMO Racing Game on Steam'. store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2020-01-16.

External links[edit]