A new week is upon us which means we have another member to celebrate, egg, and throw keycaps doused in Hawaiian Punch at. This week's newest member loves Taylor Swift — that's it, you needn't know anything else because you already know who it is, give a warm welcome to Sharky.!
1. First and foremost, you're officially the Member of the Week so what were your thoughts going into this and how does it feel to be recognized amidst the hundreds of thousands of other members here?
I'm surprised someone likes me enough or thinks I'm relevant enough to nominate me. I rarely post outside of the super-secret Premium
cult forum let alone post anything of much importance, so if you know why - I'm all ears!
2. What brought you to GTPlanet and what keeps you coming back?
If I recall correctly, I was trying to get assistance with a Gran Turismo 2 Special Stage Route 5 30-lap endurance tune for the ezmode that was the Escudo. I had run the enduro event a billion and one times (in reality it was more like ten) trying to win the Cerbera LM prize car and had turned the event into a time trial, seeing how quickly I could complete the event. At some stage I "tuned" (which should really be prefixed with "de-") the 'Scud in the quest for more speed and managed to completely balls the thing up. I hadn't noted down what the previous settings I was using were, so I turned to the internet for help. That was 2004...
3. There's a lot to do around the forums so I have to ask: what sub-forums/threads do you frequent most often and why?
Infield, because one can avoid *most* of the mind-numbing drivel that's common to far too many subforums these days... but not all of it
Infield, because that's where the cool guys are
Infield, because I have a limited interest in most of the stuff this site covers these days. I pop up in Console and PC Gaming - glorious PC gaming master race - and Computers & Technology occasionally.
Infield, beca... yeah, just the Infield.
I frequented Members' Rides for a period when I bought my car - more on that below - and had a thread going, but that was more just me documenting all the failures I had with it. It hasn't broken in a long while now so I haven't really had a need to update the thread
4. What was it that sparked your interest in Gran Turismo?
I honestly don't know. I first played Gran Turismo in 1999 (I think - that's far too long ago so pardon me if my memory from back then is a bit foggy) when my family bought an original grey brick Playstation and a few games. One of the games was, in case you're a bit slow and haven't twigged by now, Gran Turismo. Being a kid I enjoyed playing with toy cars and making vroom vroom noises so a car game was basically Mecca.
Because I was a kid I was completely rubbish, but I still had a good time. Of all my time spent playing GT1 there are only two things I remember - having a blue Impreza STi wagon that I used for almost everything I could enter it in, and grinding out a few races in order to have enough credits to buy the NISMO Skyline LM before primary school one morning... I must've been ten at the time, good to see I had my priorities straight back then!
As it transpired, the car was a pile of junk on its stock tune and all I ever did to "tune" a car was raise the boost level, so it was a giant waste of credits
5. How did you come up with the name "Sharky"?
At its core the name came about because I liked sharks. Disregard the fact that if I met one in real life I would die from fear, if you would...
It's a (nice!) bastardisation of my original username on GTPlanet - blue_sharky39 (I was only fourteen when I registered on GTPlanet okay, DON'T JUDGE ME) - and over time as I posted more and became one of the Travian and BATracer guys people started to refer to me as sharky, sharks, and other variations thereof. Changed my forum name to what I have now at some point after Christmas 2007 when I was gifted lifetime Premium by Josh I believe.
The '.' is there because someone had already registered the name "sharky", the check for existing usernames when asking Jordan for a name change was case-insensitive and Big J hadn't brought in the 'you can claim an existing username if said user hasn't made any posts nor signed in for x time' thing at that stage. Haven't bothered getting Jordan to remove the '.' because 1) I can't be bothered asking him to remove it and 2) I'm now so used to having it I think my username would look funny without it!
6. Controversial question time: Gran Turismo, Forza Motorsport or both?
Gran Turismo, but
only because I haven't played Forza outside of a couple of laps of Tsukuba in FM3 at a friend's house.
In reality my answer would be neither, subject to the above caveat. See below.
7. Because it's finally occurred to me that the question above doesn't allow enough freedom, do you play any other racing games that you perhaps enjoy more than GT or FM?
Yep. I have spent more time playing rFactor than almost any other racing game - GT2 and GT4 excepted - because it's, well,
better. I played the hell out of GTs 2 and 4 up until I got my own computer in 2008 and discovered the wonderful world of PC sim racing. I remember that the first game I ever owned from Steam was Race 07/GTR Evolution. Between that, rFactor and the demo for Live For Speed I had so much fun - and that was with a laptop!
When I built my first proper computer I got into sims even more, picking up titles like ToCA 3, GTR 2, Project CARS and rFactor 2. Admittedly I haven't sat down and actually played a sim for a proper length of time for a long while now, but they're still definitely my bread and butter genre of video game.
8. GTP 12 is up and about, what are your thoughts?
It's different but refreshing.
Thought process when GTP 12 first launched was as follows:
- is this GTP12?
- looks kinda funky
- I DON'T LIKE CHANGE
- these new features are kinda neat
- WHY IS IT NOT FILLING THE WIDTH OF MY SCREEN
- I quite like it now
9. Gran Turismo 6 is finally here, what are you thoughts so far?
Haven't played it for long, but early thoughts are tentatively positive. Has that clear Gran Turismo feeling to it, but the game performance is still completely awful (PC gaming has spoilt me, anything less than 60fps and I hate it), I didn't like having to buy a Fit in order to start playing the game - I've played Gran Turismo for well over a decade, I know how the game works - and the moon stuff was hilariously unnecessary. I know Kaz wants to widen GT's horizons a bit, but my advice to him is to leave roving on the moon to Kerbal Space Program.
10. If aliens landed in front of you and, in exchange for anything you desire, offered you any position on their planet what would you want?
I'd ask for a ham sandwich and be a politician.
Just kidding, I hate politicians.
Those of you that know my persona won't find this surprising in the slightest and those that don't may find it a bit strange, creepy, weird, choose your adjective, but I'd like to meet Taylor Swift and get to know her, find out what makes her tick, become friends etc. Everyone has a celebrity crush, right?
Alternative answer: Half-Life 3. Gabe Newell, you are both a PC gaming saint and a massive douche at the same time.
What role would I assume on the alien planet? I honestly do not know. In all likelihood something without massive responsibility, because I don't really enjoy having a mountain of pressure piled on top of me; I prefer to be able to take things nice and casual. Do the aliens have cars? Then I'll be a racing car driver. Or podracer.
11. If you could live in any video game which game would it be and why?
Mass Effect. Impending doom from Reaper threat aside, the Mass Effect universe would be such an awesome place to live in. Bonus points if I get to be a member of Commander Shepard's crew (but again, sans the high chance of death part). Super-advanced technology, all sorts of places to go and visit, the badass known as Garrus Vakarian, awesome spaceships. I'll take it!
Honourable mentions go to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic - lightsabers and space magic FTW
Coincidentally all three games are sci-fi BioWare titles...
12. If you could create your own motorsport series what would it entail?
Full contact permitted, nobody with the name "Sebastian" or alternative spellings allowed, reverse-grid races, anyone that gets lapped explodes, oil will be sprayed onto circuit prior to race start to spice things up.
13. Tell us something interesting about your hometown.
Ernest Rutherford studied at the university here, is that interesting enough? He split the atom after all!
14. Tell us about your Swiftatar and your love of all things Swift.
How much time do you have? I mean it.
To tell you the truth, I don't really know where to start but I'll give it a crack anyway - I might even surprise myself with how much detail I end up able to provide.
I do remember the first time I encountered Miss Swift and her music - I was flicking between channels on the TV one afternoon mid-2009 when I landed on the music channel and a music video featuring a pretty attractive blonde chick in a classical-style gown and a fresh, youthful voice was playing. Almost immediately the video piqued my interest and being the investigative guy that I am, I had to find out more about this song and the lady singing it. I was still running 56k dialup internet at home at this stage so you can imagine how slow it was trying to find out more info through the likes of Youtube and music clips!
The song ended up being one of her biggest hits (in pop music, her songs are hardly country IMHO) and to this day is still one of my favourites:
Cutting a long and what is probably lost to the bowels of my memory story short(er), I searched around for other samples of her music, liked what I heard, thought she was *quite* attractive and it basically went from there. Good-looking, as near as makes no difference the same age as me (I'm a mere five weeks, two days younger) and made music that I enjoyed listening to, perfect combination!
The upgrade to broadband internet kicked things up a notch - namely being able to watch videos at will instead of having to wait half an hour for the video to download - and her often endearing and quirky spontaneity and humour in interviews and the like struck a chord with my own personality and I guess you could say from that point on I was a Swiftie. Without the weird
GO DIE IN A FIRE JOE JONAS/JOHN MAYER/ONE DIRECTION GUY/<insert name of ex-boyfriend here> stuff some of her fans like to do, mind you.
Weird? Probably. Creepy? Your call. I won't judge you for judging me. Much.
I'm secretly judging you all right now.
15. Do you have any hobbies we should be made aware of?
I have hobbies?
Besides gaming, I'm into 4WDing; it's nice being able to drive out to the middle of who-knows-where with a few buddies, get a nice fire going and sit around under the stars sharing stories
That's about the only other hobby I have at the moment, but at least I have a hobby outside of gaming now! I used to be heavily into programming and making random programs in .NET but I haven't done that since my university years in '08 and '09; it's a shame I've all but stopped as I really enjoyed doing that - but again, that falls under the "inside all day, sitting in front of a computer" umbrella that I'm trying to rid myself of.
16. Are you driving anything special at the moment?
Nope. I drive a 1992 Isuzu Mu 2.8 turbodiesel 4WD vehicle; while it would be classed as an SUV, there's certainly nothing "sport" about it and it's far too small to have any "utility" either. For that reason I never call it an SUV, only a 4WD.
It had a comically frequent occurrence of major faults during my ownership so it's special in that regard.
Fun fact about my car: it has a shorter wheelbase than a current-generation Mazda2. My car has a 2330mm wheelbase and the Mazda2 clocks in at a comparatively mammoth 2490mm. I like to make light of this fact as well as mention that it has three doors, a 2.8 litre turbocharged engine and is rear-wheel-drive in urban/open-road configuration. Of course it's also diesel, weighs 700+kg more and is as wide as a city block but I elect to not mention those points when explaining why it's better than a Mazda hatchback
Car thread:
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/sharkys-musterious-isuzu-still-going-strong.268046/
17. What's your favourite video game, currently?
I don't have one at the moment. Surprisingly, I haven't played games much for the last while and, truth be told, it's quite refreshing to not be doing the same thing every single evening
18. What songs have been on repeat for the past few days?
Enjoyment of Taylor Swift aside I'm all about '80s rock music, so the following songs have been on repeat lately:
(I am aware the second one was released in 1990...)
There are few contemporary artists that I actually like, an extremely overwhelming majority of the music I listen to is from the decade before I was born (I was born in 1990, making the decade in question the 80s). Bet you weren't expecting a fan of Taylor Swift to rate AC/DC's Back in Black or Def Leppard's Hysteria as two of their favourite albums were you?
19. Why did you choose that avatar, and why is it not a monkey? (Don't ask me, I had nothing to do with this.
)
I chose this avatar because I personally took the photo at Taylor Swift's Friday, 29th November concert at Vector Arena in Auckland. I have the typical point-and-shoot attitude with a camera that most people have, so for a photo to come out looking that good to me was awesome. Crop + border later and it was a perfect candidate to join the ranks of my now semi-famous range of 'Taylortars'. I have become so synonymous with Taylor Swift avatars that if I change to something completely different (not that I actually do that, apart from one time) some people pipe up telling me to "put Taylor back!"
Why is it not a monkey? Because. That's why.
20. Games, how do you like them?
a) Pre-Order, I want them on day one.
b) Sealed at first price drop.
c) Used.
d) On Steam.
and
e) not full of bugs, microtransactions or day one DLC.
21. With the next generation of all things video gaming upon us, have you made any plans to pick up a PS4, Xbox One or Wii U?
Nope. PC master race.
22. Mechanical or Membrane keyboard?
Mechanical. I used to use an el cheapo Logitech wireless keyboard + mouse combo but bought a Razer BlackWidow Ultimate Stealth keyboard and Razer DeathAdder 3500dpi gaming mouse around the start of last year (2012). The mouse is pretty damn good itself but the keyboard is hands down the best peripheral I've ever bought for my computer, even ahead of the Logitech G27 - with Cherry MX Brown keys typing on it is a delight, the noise it makes is wonderful and the blue LED backlighting is both handy when using my computer in the dark as well as providing a very cool contrast to the black design of the keyboard itself.
Many people lambaste Razer's build quality but the keyboard has been absolutely flawless apart from an occasionally intermittent backlight behind the 'O' key and as of recently a slightly dimmer 'K' key backlight. They're only backlight issues too, the keyboard proper hasn't missed a beat
23. You've just been sentenced to death. What is your last meal?
A large, light moist chocolate cake with thick, gooey icing and whipped cream.
24. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being likely to go to the nut house, how crazy would you rate yourself?
It goes to eleven, right?
Eleven.
25. Who is your favorite race driver and why?
For someone with such an interest in cars and the like I don't follow motorsport anywhere near as much as I used to (not that I followed it all that much to begin with, just V8 Supercars and Indycar mostly), which is a bit unusual. Would probably have to go with Scott Dixon, because he's a Kiwi and also the world's fastest ginger.
26. Where and when was your very first post here and how does it differ from your posting style used today?
I have no idea what *exactly* my first post was, but as outlined all the way up at the top of this MotW I'm pretty sure it was something about GT2's Escudo at SSR5. Posting style should be pretty much the same now as it was nearly ten years ago, even though I was fourteen back then I still valued the importance of proper spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and whatnot.
I'm
much more of a sarcastic tit now, however. I also think I'm funny now, which is a problem because I'm, well, not.
27. How many of your controllers have died because of heavy physical abuse whilst playing a PS3 game?
None. I only have one PS3 controller anyway!
28. Have you ever accessed the website during an unusual time and/or place?
Nope. Unless McDonalds counts, in which case yes. Otherwise, no.
29. What's the longest you've gone without logging onto GTPlanet since joining: Years, months, weeks, days, hours?
Six weeks, not by choice though.
30. Who (in your own opinion) is the most inspiring person / people here on GTPlanet?
Talk about putting me on the spot!
I personally don't find people inspiring per se, but I do have huge respect for the super mods and the job they have to do (except for T-12, he's rude). Managing a forum that is home to over 200,000 users is no mean feat, and the way GTP runs so smoothly is credit to their efforts.
Depends who's asking.
32. Now it's time for the "Daniel Special": If you could cross a hippo with any other animal - what will the animal be, what will it be called, and why? (Bonus points for creativity! And it can't be another hippo because that's incest)
Trust my fellow countryman to come up with something dumb like this
I'd probably cross a hippo with a bee. Ever seen a flying, black and yellow hippo pollinating your garden? Didn't think so. It would likely be called a bippo.
33. What's the funniest thing you can remember from all of your time being a member here?
Oh lordy, I wouldn't even have a clue. I'm coming up on my 10-year anniversary in April (2014), how am I supposed to remember a whole decade's worth of funnies?
Probably something from way back when. 2008ish probably, I remember the forum was still pretty funny back then. I vaguely recall something about RO_JA/Blackbird and cookies, the Premo avatar fad when we all changed our avatars to a photo of his sister, MistaX/Race Idiot/Rumple Foreskin et al were generally all reasonably amusing.
I feel old by GTP standards now, why did you make me have to think back so many years >_<
34. Have you ever participated in any of the racing series' found here?
Nope.
35. Have you ever considered developing your own racing series, and if you have where can we find it?
Nope.
36. Anything else you'd like to say?
Nope.
I mean yep.
I'd like to thank my family, my friends, my fans and all those who vot---
---yo Sharks, imma let you finish but this has been the worst Member of the Week interview of all time. Of all time!
Damnit, Kanye.