Hello Racers!
Today I'm proud to present to you another interview, but this time it's not an interview with one of our team members. All of you know him, and since he has already given lots of LFS related interviews I was trying to ask him a few new ones that were more about the person than the game itself.

So give the man some applause for taking the time, and say hello to one of the three Developers of Live for Speed: Victor van Vlaardingen.

Hello Victor and thanks for taking the time and doing this little interview.

Good evening.

Since we all know that your real name is Victor van Vlaardingen and where you live etc. we start the interview a bit different from the normal ones. Please describe yourself (appearance and personality) to your audience.

I'm a long and thin male (I doubt anyone cares though really ). I'm neither married nor do I have kids. I can be a moody person, but generally I do try to be friendly. I like to sleep in, but usually go to sleep late as well - I'm a night owl. 

I like to work hard on something I enjoy and often can't stop until it's done. I generally think people are good, but a bit short sighted and that can annoy me sometimes.

That's quite a tough question to answer.

Well, we all know that LFS takes its time, but I'm sure that you still have a few other hobbies. Please tell us about them.

One of my interests is music, I love to search for new stuff that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I don't find much, but that makes the good finds all the better. I'm also a generic computer geek - always have been. Without one I wouldn't really know what to do.

I also started playing golf last year. I really like it a lot as it's a relaxing outdoor sport to pull me from behind my desk from time to time.

I'm also always good for a game of poker, every 3rd week the "poker gang" meets up for a smokey evening of chance.

And currently my new shop keeps me busy too.

Your golf handicap? :D

Actually I haven't one yet, as to get a handicap status you need to pass several exams which I hope to do this year.

“with mails it's lying there and then I think .
mm later .. and then later I think . meh,
. mm later .. etc :)”
Victor

Talking about the shop: Can you tell us a bit of current projects you are working on? And what are your future plans do to / what would you like to do?

The first shop that will open is the LFS shop which will be open it's virtual doors very soon. So the main target at the moment is to get that smoothly running. I've worked on a lot of systems for it, but doing the actual day-to-day work in a structured way is something I still have to learn.

The shop will start with a nice basic selection of LFS shirts. After a little bit the idea is to expand the shop with interesting items. We try to create items that people can and will actually use, so that they aren't 'just goodies'.

What those will be, you'll see when it opens.

As I said "the first shop" above - the business I've started to run this shop allows for other shops to be created fairly easily. So in the future I hope to take on other shop projects as well, for people or businesses with potential ideas.

Please complete the following sentence: "Since I'm a developer of Live for Speed..."

*laughs* uuhm geez.. ergh, I really don't know what to answer!    

"... I found my way"

Well, come to think of it, there are always uncertainties, but over time, confidence has grown. I think the last real doubt I had (as in "I hope I can pay my bills") was from before the release of S1. So that's quite a while back already.

Was that (the S1 release) your most memorable time in LFS?

I think so yes. Everything was brand new - you know how you felt when you were a kid and got that birthday present you've been waiting for all year? I think that's how  I felt then. I couldn't sleep, the mails kept coming in and more and more people learned about LFS - it was a rush.

But on the other hand, we also had many good things happening after that too, like the S2 release or the BMW / Sauber release and seeing all online records being broken.

Basically every release gets the adrenaline pumping through my body.

And about records - they are bound to be broken again, so on that aspect there are more memorable times to come

You mentioned the kid waiting for their presents and wishes.
When you were a little kid, what was your dream to do when you are a grown up? Do you think your dream has changed a lot during the years? If yes, what is your dream now?

I suppose I was one of the 50% of kids that wanted to be a pilot. But that soon cleared for a period of 'not knowing at all'. But at some point I wanted to do really well in music and had the feeling I could get at least somewhere with it. It actually did lead me to LFS, but after a while I realised music would never be everything for me, for the rest of my life.

With LFS I've automatically fallen into new areas. I learned how to startup a business (and am still learning), I learned a lot about programming (which I didn't know anything about before LFS) and I learned that I don't really have the ultimate dream. I just want to have fun in what I do. I'm having fun now with LFS and the new shop thing, that's good enough for me.

And therefor I try do keep doing things I like, a happy life would be my dream I think.

You said you didn't know anything about programming, but looking at the LFS websites especially LFSW is an amazing piece of code. How did you learn all that stuff? Just by trial and error, or did you read some php / JavaScript books?

The php website has a great manual. That's where I learnt most of the php stuff I know today. Javascript I found a bit harder to learn, but after a lot of trial and error I got that under control as well.

Although I wouldn't say I had it under control when creating LFSW - it's actually not that well coded. It all works, but it could've been made more elegantly.

Recently I started to get some books on php to learn tips and tricks that you don't find on the php website. Latest one was: "PHP5 in practice", which I found particularly useful because it's about the very latest php version available (the 5.2 branch) and the new functionalities it includes.

Speaking of LFS: Can you explain us a bit how the development process of LFS works? Do you three have some kind of regular meetings (chats or whatever) or how does the work between you guys is done?

Basically we have our own ideas for our own areas. Scawen knows best and has ideas for the code while Eric knows all about his graphics area and knows what to do and the same goes for me.

Of course sometimes we get in touch to talk about the big picture. I guess that's one of the advantages of being a small business no need to gather lots of  employees together to get everyone pulling in the same direction.

Back in school I often had to write about my "best holiday experience" When you are on holiday, what do you do? Are you the kind of person who just want to sit in the sun with a drink or more the action guy who goes bungee jumping?

Well, I think a little bit of both. The best holiday memories I have were both, the relaxing like doing some football or frisbeeing on the beach and such, but on other days you'd go somewhere and hike into the mountains.

Though I'm not a person who goes on holiday to seek the thrill or something like that. In that regard it's the opposite.

But if I'd come across a nice jump spot (or whatever thrill), I would consider doing it.

Staying a bit on the "holiday" topic:
Please tell us the three things, you would take with you to a desert island and why.

Assuming that I couldn't bring other people and have no electricity or internet (although those new cheap laptops for Africa would work without a power outlet), I suppose I would take the following with me:

- a toothbrush, because brushing with sand would work but isn't just that super

- a small sun-powered discman,

- and my best CD, because I would be bored to death otherwise.

Speaking of music: Your all time favourite song / band.

I guess in the end favourite band would have to be Orbital and my favourite track of theirs would be "Are we here", from the album "Snivilisation".

But it's hard to name THE best song as it's so much influenced by the mood you're in.

And as I said, I can be moody (see above) ...

But the alternative electronic area defnitely gets the most attention.

What was the last movie you have seen / book you've read? Please tell us something about it. Was it worth reading / watching?

I don't read books, I just can't sit down and get into it (live the book). 

Last movie was Bobby, which was about the day Robert Kennedy was assassinated. It follows all the characters that were at that specific location during the day, up to the point of the assasination.

Although I have to say, the details didn't really stick. The movie really went into the characters more than the national dillemma's of the time if I recall that correctly.

Although those were certainly raised as well, in the end it was related to why he was assasinated.

What is the question in an interview you have always been waited for to answer?

Well, not this one I can tell you.

Let's say it that way: All the questions except the uber-regular ones like "who are you" and "what can you tell us about LFS". I know they're logical questions, but they're repetitive

I like any question that's really interesting. You know, 'something else'.

What I really miss in interviews are the follow ups. You rarely get one to go deeper into a subject. It's always Q - A - Q - A etc. And that keeps things superficial without having questions that are related to each other.

So how would the ideal interview be for you?

Just a regular chat about something I can actually talk about. For example there is no sense in asking me questions about car physics.

That would spoil my preparations.

Well this is a problem you see with many interviewers on TV for example, not just sim racer interviewers.

How often do you play your own game?

Not every day, sometimes not every week either. It depends really, mostly I do play when big new developments are going on and testing is done.

You see, I'm no die hard racer after 5 years. I used to play a lot, but not anymore.

At the moment I'm into another amazing game, it's a simulation game that lets me control a racing sim community.

Ok, I asked you all the questions I had.
Now the audience is yours, feel free to speak to your fans.

Well, this sounds a little corny, but I think the audience is great! I'm really amazed by the enthusiam you run into everywhere and how  there are lots of dedicated sim racers. I take my hat off to you all - I'm glad we can be of help.

Then I can only say thanks a lot for taking the time and answering a few questions. I hope you enjoyed it a bit, and had some fun while answering.

Yes and thank you for not starting with the usual questions.

Almost all of em I think.