HEAT Online announces open beta testing of this North American-exclusive racing MMOG is set to begin next week on August 17, offering the only North American edition of Level-R. Leading up to this, publisher Innologin want it clear that this version of Level R is licensed for North America only, and "there is absolutely no connection between us and any other (past or present) publisher of this game." The beta is actually open-ish, as it will only accommodate 1000 players, but it will only run a week, and the game will be free-to-play after that, and will not even require any sort of registration (though registration will be required to retain items and progression). For racing gamers, they also answer the key question of whether this is an arcade game or a simulation: "Since many player [sic] have already tried one or more other versions of Level-R we know that the biggest question is whether there will be simulation handling in HEAT Online. Our philosophy is pretty straightforward on this subject. The Invictus engine offers us a brilliant physics system and a really easy ‘arcade’ support. We have decided to use only arcade mode because it is easy to learn and hard to master, while simulation handling is hard to learn and even harder to master. Our opinion is that HEAT Online with arcade setup is far more realistic than most of the arcade racing games out there, including the most recent big shots."