Terrifying tutorial and awesome driving model. Driver offered a three-dimensional open world with cars before GTA

In the '80s, every movie on television was a big event. One particular type of movie that aroused intense emotions was those with car chase scenes! Huge cars, dozens of police cars, falling hubcaps... Such spectacles as Smokey and the Bandit or Bullitt were talked about at school for a long time.

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However, the only option for playing "chases" were toy cars. And when computer games appeared, they rather focused on sports competition. Only the late 1990s began to deliver titles in which you could run from the police. First, there was the first installment of GTA in 1997. A year later, Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit appeared with police cars on our tail - quite atmospheric, but it still resembled a race, not scenes from a movie. Finally, the next year, Driver roared in with screeching tires - a dream come true for every Bullitt movie fan!

Spy Tanner

Driver, a game developed by Reflection Interactive (creators of Shadow of the Beast and Destruction Derby), was a grand tribute to car chase scenes from movies. Instead of highways and traveling from point A to B, and rather than racing in sporty, exotic supercars, there were angular American motors on the streets of those cities - and there were four: Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

In the game, we took on the role of John Tanner, a New York cop working undercover. In the past, Tanner was a race car driver, and thanks to his talent, he infiltrates a criminal organization as a "getaway driver," who safely picks up his companions after a heist. Our task was to end the mafia organization and its boss, Castaldi. We started with a mission in Miami, then moved to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and finally to New York, where we tried to save the US president from an assassination attempt.

Movie chases in an open world before GTA

Unlike most early racing games, Driver offered something like an open world. Every city matched its real-life counterparts as closely as possible during the PlayStation 1 era. Characteristic locations and architectural styles were visible, such as the long, wide streets overlooking the ocean in Miami or the steep hills in San Francisco. Instead of rushing headlong, like in NFS, here you would drive through the streets, ram police blockades, and make a screeching U-turn with the handbrake - just like in movie chases. And as if that wasn't enough, after finishing the mission, we could turn on the "director mode," in which we watched a replay of the stage from various external cameras.

Some objectives called for calm driving and steering clear of the police - you simply needed to reach the designated points, while others had a tight time limit requiring you to floor the gas pedal. There were also night rides. At the top, we had a "Felony" bar with a familiar "wanted level" mechanic, famous "stars" from GTA. After filling it up, completing the mission was practically impossible.

The game didn't lack convincing details, such as the unforgettable car destruction model. It's not only our car, but every vehicle from the AI traffic that we crashed into. There was also "burning rubber" and knocking over bollards, which flew to the sides. The driving model was fantastic - you could see how the cars "swayed" on soft suspensions, so characteristic of American cars, and taking a turn on the handbrake each time gave a great thrill.

Driver looked amazing in those days, and it squeezed everything it could out of the PS1 console. A three-dimensional, open-world urban metropolis with dozens of cars in traffic, a damage model for each vehicle, pedestrians, buildings, and objects... It was truly impressive, and alongside the graphics, there was excellent sound design and a 70s-styled atmospheric soundtrack.

Horror in the underground parking lot

I haven't forgotten about the most controversial stage in the Driver game, the underground parking lot. It simply deserves a special distinction! The first mission served as a kind of test and introduction to the story mode, where we had to demonstrate our skills in driving a car. Within one minute, a series of maneuvers had to be performed in an empty underground parking lot: start with a squeal of tires, accelerate to a designated speed, brake before reaching a wall, execute a 180-degree turn while driving in reverse, circle the entire parking lot, slalom between the parking lot pillars, perform a handbrake turn, and "burn rubber" in a 360-degree spin.

For many players, it was an unbeatable obstacle, leading to countless attempts and much frustration. The mission was hardcore difficult. The maneuvers alone were challenging, like dodging pillars and parked vehicles, or spinning with the handbrake, which required selecting the right speed. And once we mastered the driving, an extra challenge was the 60-second limit for everything. It was hard, but there was also an incredible atmosphere, incomparable to other challenging games, which didn't leave you feeling fatigued and frustrated. A dark parking lot, a car, the purring of the engine, and the squeal of tires—the whole scene from the first minute looked like something out of a movie, and that was no coincidence.

The creators truly took inspiration from the 1978 film The Driver, using it as the foundation for the concept and storyline of the whole game. A small change was that in Walter Hill's film, the main driver truly worked for gangsters, and the detectives were fixated on capturing him at any cost (in the game, the roles were reversed, making the protagonist an undercover agent). The film also stands out for its nameless characters, which were supposedly a big inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's creations. In the scene, the main driver, portrayed by Ryan O'Neal, has to prove to the gangsters that his abilities justify the fee he asks for his services and takes them on a "ride" through an underground parking garage. This is a picture-perfect infamous introduction to Driver.

In the game, you can even hear similar cries from panicked engers, except that the car doesn't resemble an orange Mercedes. We used to complain, but today, it's undisputable that it is a cult mission that has made its mark in the history of games.

From success to the brand's abandonment

The Driver series is often compared to Grand Theft Auto. It drew some inspiration from its initial 2D versions, which featured city police chases, and then, two years before GTA 3, it was the first to bring this gameplay into a three-dimensional, open world. The first installment was a success, which resulted in four main sequels: Driver 2, Driver 3, Driver: Parallel Lines, and Driver: San Francisco, and two more games for portable consoles: Driver 76 on PSP and Driver: Renegade 3D on 3DS. The last major installment, Driver: San Francisco, was released in 2011. The feature film plans were dropped in 2002, and the TV series project was swiftly canceled in 2024. Will Driver ever come back? Ubisoft, the company that oversees the franchise, recently revealed that it is "working on several projects related to Driver." What would come of it? We shall see.

How to play Driver today?

Officially - it's not possible. The game has not been re-released in digital form on either GOG.com, Steam, or the Ubisoft Connect platform. The only option is a retro PC, PSX console, and an old disc from those times. The prices aren't high, but the game only occasionally appears on auction sites.

Driver (1999)

July 2, 1999

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• Overview

• oldschool / retro
• Ubisoft Reflections
• racing games
• Driver (franchise)
• Retro Gaming
• PC
• PS1