Although, there are somewhat recent versions torrented which would make you download the rest of the data the correct way.
I don't remember what version it was, but after a certain version of Bitcoin it was considered faster to let it sync with the net rather than download the blockchain via torrent.
this is what i have heard as the latest news as to why torrents arent used anymore. Basically your quicker to just let the client download the blockchain itself and then synchronise. Far less likely to download something you might not wish to download as well.
I have a really hard time believing this. I have a decent computer and a fast internet connection, and it's taking WEEKS to update the blockchain. The internet connection is hardly touched, and the CPU usage is marginal. There HAS to be a faster way to get this thing updated.