Hello everyone here's a playlist with all my Driver videos kzfaq.info/sun/PL643B5filmfF22BLaR-pK6XXbTR5UU-pw Also - I regret not mentioning Olanov's fantastic Felony Rework mod in this video - it's a police overhaul mod that adds all sorts of things like roadblocks, AI tweaks, QOL improvements etc. If you're playing on PC definitely give it a look www.moddb.com/games/driver-san-francisco/downloads/felony-rework

It's weird when a series peaks with its final game

Absolutely underrated classic. This game needs a remaster or re-release. The story was insane, and incredible.

I will say this. Mad respect for this game to pick up after Driver 3. It could've been so easy to simply pretend D3 did not exist due to his poor reception and that D:SF has a new publisher.

The cockpit view in this game is my favorite in any driving game ive played. Feels like theres actually a person driving and not just a set of hands turning the wheel.

Driver San Francisco remains the only racing game I've played with an interesting story. Other games like 00s NFS do a good job of making you hate the antagonist, but that's pretty much it. Driver SF on the other hand, kept me hooked like I was watching a TV show

Now it's time to review the driving mechanics in Watch Dogs

Shift mechanic is the coolest feature in a driving game IMO Driver SF is also one of the few driving games with a genuinely good story.

I read they designed and wrote all the random NPC’s in other cars in 10 minutes and there are over 350 of them. They are in my opinion the best part of the game, it keeps you shifting from car to car, even into trash cars. And the mechanic takes the game to another level. Down other racers with oncoming traffic, everything

this game must have, hands down, the best "story mode" in any racing game. makes me super bummed we don't get ANY racing games with meaningful single-player components, as someone who couldn't care less about multiplayer..

"It feels like it's all over before it truly goes off the walls with it." Funny because that's actually kinda like how IRL dream works so if anything it really does plays in this game's favor.

I recently installed Felony Overhaul on the PC version, that overhauls police behaviour and already thrilling game became that much better to play. Seriously, try it.

19:15 just a note, the leads at Reflections have said they had the option to make a sequel and didn't, instead moving the studio into a support role on other Ubisoft projects. Basically, the leads were old men who already had their legacy and were doing this since the 90s... I think they were just comfortable to go for a more relaxed path forward rather than the boom/bust stressful cycle of releasing their own games. Wikipedia notes "Ubisoft announced in its fall 2011 quarterly financial report that sales of Driver: San Francisco had exceeded their targets." so I don't think it was the publisher stopping a potential sequel - after all, it was well liked, sold well, and has good name recognition.

As I remember from another video, which I probably won't find now, the low sales weren't what killed the franchise (or more like, put it in a coma, pun intended). The story went like this: Ubisoft, being a fairly more liberal and more responsible company than Atari, decided to give Reflections full creative freedom (unlimited time, big budget) to make the "Driver game of their dreams," and brought back Martin Edmondson as someone to guide their vision. During the five years of development Reflections went all out, with creating the city, the setting, the gameplay mechanics... Basically, put all the resources and ideas they had into it. When the game was released, despite the love of critics, it indeed sold worse than expected. Ubisoft themselves weren't really that disappointed, but Reflections were exhausted, they put everything they had into the game, and it just broke even? That sent the team into a state of creative apathy, and they decided to just kick back and do support work for other titles. Ubisoft did suggest a few times that if Reflections would want to come back to Driver, they'd have budget and time, but Reflections just don't want to develop huge projects anymore, especially in the "failing" franchise. My dream is that at some point they would acquire/recover the OG Driv3r assets and remake the game as it always meant to be. Alas, the chances are slim, and it's less Ubisoft's fault than Reflections' lack of drive to do so, pun intended. As always, amazing video. Cheers! Edit: some, well, editing and clearing up.

One of the few games I actively searched out to buy online hearing about it. An absolutely tremendous gem. What a brilliant growth for the Driver franchise.

Driver: San Francisco is the game that showed me, that even racing games can have interesting story, great characters and unique missions and mechanics. For that reason it's in my holy grail of racing games(with Horizon 1 and Underground 2). Which I play frequently on repeat. It's just sad, that Ubisoft abandoned both this game and franchise, so it's harder and harder to buy this game. Also I really enjoyed the multiplayer.

Soundtrack was great, and that final mission with 'Eye for an eye' from U.N.K.L.E is stuck in my head. So epic that final mission!

I played the game at launch, was quite taken back how much the game's plot was inspired by the BBC sci-fi/drama, Life on Mars, which was huge at the time.

What if instead of having a game where you switch between cars in a fever dream you play as a custom character that uses the power of skateboarding to terraform the world, dismantle the government and save a ginger. I doubt such a game exists though...

I made many comments requesting D:SF, it holds a special place in my heart since I played it after a family death and the story made me weirdly emotional because it was in a hospital Happy to see this video 🙌🏻

This game has to be one of the most creative uses of racing mechanics I have ever seen. There will probably never be anything else like this game I just love how it shakes up driving around a map and chases with the ability to change into any car on a whim. Sadly Driver:SF has become hard to find these days being delisted from all digital stores.

Very often do I go through my game collection and just stop and stare at this beautiful gem. Really wish they'd bring it back.

The fact this has more narrated dialogue than Mass Effect 2 tells how how much committed Reflections was to their idea

This game is so underrated I was sad it was slept on for so long but I'm glad to see more people talk about Driver SF it brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. I hope Ubisoft remasters the game for future consoles and PC.

as someone who lives in san francisco, and drives, i support this video

I can still remember how I felt when Tanner has the realization at the start of the final "boss fight", which also is the coolest way to represent someone's will to live and wake up from a coma fighting against death: "The highway...in my head. The traffic...in my head. Jericho...in my head. That's it, new rules, I'M THROWING SOME GODDAMN CARS TOO!" The sheer energy of "I'M LAUCNHING YOUR ATTACK RIGHT BACK AT YOU, MOTHERFUCKER" wasn't something I expected to feel form a Driver game.

Ironically of all the games you listed at the end I’m really hyped if you’d do a full review of Driver Renegade on 3DS, that thing is a bizarre oddity. The whole thing is centered around a bizarre frenzy mechanic/rage mode that kinda upends the gameplay, the story is this odd point between Driver 1 and 2 (I could be misremembering though) and it’s all presented in these cartoony, yellow Chinatown Wars-esque motion comic cutscenes. On top of that, the graphics are a bit like San Francisco where they’re not bad especially for the tech that it’s on (3DS) but like most 3DS games it does kindof have a weird cubic jank to look back on now. On top of all that, it’s none other than VDdev as the developer, but I think I remember hearing this game isn’t listed on their website.

12:05 ahah "ludonarrative harmony" I love how you hate sounding too technical. Really good video as always!

I love this game, I loved shifting to random cars and hearing the conversations

I did a massive spit-take at the Alex Colville painting appearing at 19:58. He was an incredible artist and a hero of mine. I would have never expected his work to make an appearance in a Driver San Francisco review, but the fact it did is emblematic of why your videos are so interesting & compelling.

The shift mechanic was genius if you think about it. Because in simple terms, it allows you to change cars like any other open world driving game. But it skips all the steps inbetween and allows for a unique story to be told. Who would have thought that "change your car" can be put on its head this way and still work great? I also liked the tone of the game, it didnt take itself seriously, and that made it fun.

This was a great video and brought back so many memories of working on this game and designing some of the side missions all those years ago! Thanks for putting this together - I'll have to go further back in time with your other Driver retrospectives and relive my joys of playing those games as a kid. 😊

this game is the one that introduced me to the driver franchise, i played it as a kid all the time and the graphics were very good for a game of its time... i wouldn't have even knew what driver was without this game... looking back onto the previous games they were very GTA like and a like how reflections focused on the more "driver" side of the game... it's just way better and more distinct, driver SF will always remain in my top 10 childhood games and i will always love it. it's just that good

The fact that this game has over 500,000 lines of dialogue is insane

been waiting for your take on this. thanks for taking your time to combing through this franchise :)

It feels like it really cannot be overstated how special this game was and what could've been if it had been more successful. Other driving/racing games before and since have been plenty fun, and even some of my favorite games of all time, but no other game in the genre really even attempts the level of game design found in the modern classics of the entire medium of video games. A simple KZfaq comment can't do my sentiment justice, but the deliberate design around a novel core mechanic, the presentation of the story, the polish of every mission, and so many things are just some examples of things that make it feel like a great video game and not just a great driving game. It even does something it feels like almost no games ever do and times the story dialogue so you almost never risk triggering the next cutscene before it ends so you never awkwardly park in front of objective. And quite frankly, it's like my number one first world problem that the very first driving game we got that was on that level was the last. I know it was doomed for the reasons stated in the video, but it could've inspired a whole revolution of driving games that were that kind of ambitious in innovation and polish, or at the very least raised the bar for more generic racing games to actually give more of a shit about moment to moment design and QoL. Instead we live in a world where most of the "best" contemporary driving games are still, at best, held back by haphazard design minutia and overall lack of polish.

Can we just appreciate the fact that the game franchise pretty much pulled a phenix you expected it to be dead nope it came back and made a action driving game that is completely unique Tanner is in a hospital bed having out of body experience possessing people just driving around town

When you were going over the game mechanics, I thought "This kinda sounds like Watch Dogs Legion with cars" and LO AND BEHOLD

Finally, a game where the "It was all a dream" trope wasn't done poorly (there's probably others but I'm coming up blank)

Finally! Now that Driver Boat Mobile game! 😅

Split/Second was so good! Kinda wish I’d played Driver: San Francisco and had the nostalgia that a lot of other commenters have here, but I only played Split/Second and loved it. It’s funny that we went from having like 20+ big budget racing games per console generation to like 5

Little touch I loved: If you shift out and fly aaaaaall the way up to the max height, you can start to hear the medical equipment surrounding your actual body

This was the first Driver game I played. A friend of mine had picked it up, and after messing around at his house with the game, I knew I had to pick it up. We both loved the gameplay and were heavily invested in the story and were both incredibly impressed by the narrative at the time. I'm not sure the writing or story is nearly as good as I thought it was in middle school, but I do still think it's a really solid story for a really, really fun open world driving game.

I'm so happy i still have an original copy of this. Couldnt play it for years on win10 but recently got it to run on win11

Love this channel for covering Driver games! And San Francisco, man what an amazing game, we need something, at least a remaster of this timeless masterpiece

It is a fantastic coincidence that this video came out when I started getting back into replaying the story. The game aged SO well even after 10+ years. It is certainly a game I would recommend to basically everyone given the chance to do so.

My favourite game of all time. This game taught me the value of replaying a game.

Man. Seeing new minimme vids in my feed is always magic. Thanks for what you do, man. :)

I remember renting this from a video store when it first came out. The ability to Shift into other cars during missions was so damn cool and was especially chaotic when doing two player split-screen Free Roam.

Excellent video, I'm glad you touched on some of the surreal stuff at the end. As you approach the end of the game and after you beat it, if you go into the zoomed out mode you can hear Tanner have a bit of a existential crisis about his predicament but actually come to terms with it. A surprisingly interesting way to cap off a fun arcade-y game. And I can attest it plays great on modern Xboxes! 60FPS 7th gen games are a rare treat.

man i loved this game so much, played the hell out of it. The driving was so satisfying, nailing that movie car chase style huge powerslides and such. Plus, decent selection of classic movie cars - it had the bluesmobile! 10/10 just for that...

Been waiting patiently for this one and you did not disappoint Well done 👍

I never thought I'd feel like "one of the lucky ones" to have played Driver San Francisco when I had the chance back in the day, but here we are

Now the only Driver game left is 76, which is a game I've never heard anyone bring up ever. Surely there must be something to talk about with that one

Back when racing games are unique,original and are more than just a typical arcade/sim racing games. This,Blur and Split Second are some of the most fun and unique racing games i've played and it's a damn shame there is not a single current modern racing game are remotely similar to them.

Love this game, glad you could throw it a lil spotlight, does make me want to play it again. Shame about the online but tbh I'd only care about it for trophies and I'm doubting the Alcatraz servers would work for PS3 but still, glad fans can still play it. Never looked into the Wii version, will be interesting to see what it's about

I was obsessed with driver 3 storyline and seeing them continue it one day Driver SA was so good that I didn’t even care they had essentially abandoned the original character personalities and went with a much less serious tone

I've been subbed to you for years and it truly boggles my mind that you don't have at least a million subscribers yet. Your videos are always very interesting and that's because you're truly passionate about what you're talking about. Even if I don't have any prior interest in the games you talk about, I become interested about them because your videos do such a great job at making them interesting.

I'm mildly upset you didn't keep the creepy eyes on the cars thing. Still get a laugh at your face plastered on things. it's endearing for some reason. (leaving a comment for the algorithm)

I love Driver San Francisco. I picked this up not long after getting an Xbox 360 for Christmas and was instantly hooked. Hell, I even like the Wii version!

been following for a while and genuinely think this is one of your best videos

So glad you finally covered this. I adore this game so much.

I loved the first Driver and liked Parallel Lines a lot (never got around to playing 2 and 3), but this is still my favourite of the series, even though it's so different from the rest. The shifting mechanic is just such a good idea, I'm surprised no other driving game has tried to copy it.

A good friend and I use to play TAG on splitscreen, super competitive with each other. Both 19 years old. He would always be Jericho and I would always be Tanner, neck and neck until the last seconds of a game. My Friend died in a car accident 5 years ago and I have retired my Driver: SF copy. Going to put it in a glass frame with a plaque for my friend. RIP Richard (aka Jericho)

Really enjoyed that one! The shift mechanic was so unique and satisfying. Just crashing cars into opponents car after car, winning races that way and smashing pursuers during a chase. Damn great. It really did feel like playing with Hot Wheels. Played it last year (right after all the online functions shut down... great timing, I know) after purchasing the physical collectors edition, noticing I need the Uplay account it was last played it on, accidently stole the account and then quickly contacted the owner to let him know this, who was very confused but generous enough to let me keep the log in data and play it. So not only was playing it quite a fun time but BEING ABLE TO PLAY IT was also quite the journey.

I literally just picked a 360 copy of this game up less than a week ago, and then this retrospective drops. Brilliant.

One of my all-time favourites, the shift mechanic, the driving, damage models, highly detailed real life cars....its amazing. I keep it on my PC, ready to play and play it from time to time.

When I was a kid I had never heard of the Driver series, and so I had no reference point going into San Francisco when I first played it. The shifting feature was one of the greatest things ever to me, and I remember being very confused and disappointed finding out the other driver games never had that feature. This video brings back a lot of nostalgia, and it adds an interesting layer of perspective about why Driver SF was never followed up on.

its great to see more people appreciate this interesting and underrated racing game i love

This game is an interesting chronicle in the series of classic(or at least cult classic) developers who struggled to make the jump to HD. Developers like Free Radical Design (TimeSplitters), Factor 5 (Rogue Squadron), Pandemic (Mercenaries), Eurocom (EA’s Bond FPSs) and Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness, Legacy of Kain) all had a huge flop, eventually leading to their downfall. Some were in-house developers of classic franchises like EA LA (Medal of Honor) and Microsoft’s Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires) and Criterion games (Burnout) that got shut down after a game underperformed, or swallowed up into other subsidiaries, with Reflections belonging to this later category. And hey, this channel is doing a great job spotlighting a lot of them!

Thanks for another great retrospective Minimme!

Thanks for the revie :) Driver's fun kinda lives on in The Crew franchise (but even more arcade). And the soundtracks for both are still my top 5 ever.

Driver San Fran is one of my favourite games ever. I’m so glad you got up to this review, even if it’s definitely not pure Driver that I know you love

Definitely my favorite racing game of all time. I’ve 100% it and I enjoyed every second of it. Loved the soundtrack and story. Great video and yeah review speedboat paradise lol

Once again I feel dumb. When I first started playing this game on the night of its release back in 2011, I didn't know Tanner was in a coma till they showed him in his hospital bed a couple hours in. I was more interested in what was goingnon, and the amazing story this game has. As for graphics, minimme, did you forget how ground breaking the graphics were back then? I remember an interview with one of the team stating that in making Tanner, they realised that the way you make him look perfect is to make him imperfect. Things like his pores, scares, uneven eyebrows, and other blemishes were done on purpose to make Tanner look real, and when I saw the game on the plasma my parents had at the time, I was blown away. The vehicle reflections, character designs, and attention to detail, just looked breathtaking, and still does for the PS3.

Perfect gam:. Amazing consistent world. Soundtrack that perfectly matches the vibe. Funny dialogue. Innovative. mechanics. Fun.

I honestly forgot a 2011 release existed. I really hope they revive this IP one day and go back to its original inspiration and format

Still one of my favorite cover arts of all time. Wish it was back on digital stores, especially for PC.

I remember buying a cracked copy of Driver SF for a piece of trash laptop that used to have ten years ago (because apparently, my family figured that legally buying it on Steam with a bank account wasn't important to my holy scholarship back then) and i couldn't get over the fact that it was the closest that i could get to having access to a current-gen game back in 2013 when SF was just two years old. My favorite part about the game was that it ran better on that laptop than some of the pre-2010 games that i installed on it, even in 720p. It was definitely what made me so fond of it, even when i got bored of it at times. Driver San Francisco definitely deserves a remaster for what it's got. Hell, we probably wouldn't have had The Crew without it or it's engine.

This video was the push I needed to finally give this game a go, and damn is it good! I can see why it's such a cult hit now. People would describe the shift mechanic to me and I'd think "Pfft, that's stupid, you're stupid" but the fact you can play a lot of the game ignoring it, and the game still holds up regardless, is actually kinda awesome - though I'll admit that as far as gimmicks go, it is a cool one. Great cockpit view too, which is a huge plus for me in driving games.

I love this game. The only problem I have with it - its impossible to get it anywhere :*(

16:38 Play the PC version if you want a clean image as it lacks the console version's color grading and post processing (but can be restored via mods). Also from what I've heard, consoles still have working servers (at least Xbox, not sure about PS3), only need community servers if you're on PC (which also sadly doesn't have local coop).

The best part is the handling. I love the nice, weighty physics for all the cars, it's very satisfying controlling cars but it's not so over the top that it's too easy, too hard, or simply boring.

"Previously, on Driver San Francisco" Honestly one of the best games I've ever played.

Here we are. The end of the road (kind of).

Driver San Francisco, and the Shift, show their real potential in multiplayer and playing against players that can shift too! And next, the official Live Action adaptation on Binge! #redriver

Been waiting for this video for so long

Far Cry Instincts 2005 was Ubi´s first Far Cry game but of course one without the "formula".

Easily the best game in the series. Technically super impressive too. Open world and a very solid 60fps on ps3 and 360.

Played this back when I was a kid and I absolutely loved it. As you can imagine this is the sort of game that would appeal to every 11 year old, just simple dumb fun. Might play it again just to see if I still love it 10 years later.

If you see me, you know I ramble, so here's story time lol I grew up playing Driver and Driver 2 on PS1. I tended to go towards Driver 2 and just go into Take a Ride and just drive from one point of the map to the other, jump out and pinch another car and off I went. It was just great. Then after school going to have a look at the newest releases of Official PlayStation magazine and seeing DRIV3R printed on the front was just amazing. I ended up getting DRIV3R for my birthday or Christmas, not sure. But I was just amazed at driving around, smashing cars, getting out of the car and exploring and having a blast. I did eventually get one of those small CHEATS THAT ABSOLUTELY WORK books and found all the cheats to use in DRIV3R and had so much more fun. I did try the story mode but it just wasn't for me. Same with Driver 1 and 2, I only played small snippets of the story mode, funny enough, the PlayStation I was using had a save file of Driver 2 on it at "Chase the Gunman" and I gave up on it immediately :) I spent so many hours in DRIV3R. Even going as far as to make a glitch video to get on that small island in Miami. It was also where I got to see the Nokia 3200 displayed on billboards and just so much more. Then when Parallel Lines got announced (once again seeing in a magazine) BUT THEN getting the demo for it with OPSM. I was like "You can get out your car and roam around and man this looks cool!" and then I got that for Christmas I think and actually played the Story and it was really fun and changing years and all that but ultimately, I just go back to DRIV3R. There's something about it that's magical. It's weird. I did play Driver SF and it was really easy and I was able to 100% it all pretty quick. Over the years I started to play Driver on PC casually and then eventually going back to it on PS1 (and iPhone, that was a fun port albeit touch controls) and I gave Story mode a proper shot on PS1 and completed it during COVID. Then when I learned about REDRIVER, I immediately got that and played through Driver 2 - even streaming me losing my shit over "Chase the Gunman" and eventually doing the mission after like 3 hours. I did try to play DRIV3R (driv3rs?) storyline but it just doesn't sit with me. I see the game more as a fun mess of whacky physics in a big open world and just doing whatever I want in it. And also smashing through the shopping centre in Miami. That was fun stuff and so many other moments in it as well. DRIV3R was an unfinished mess absolutely but it has so much charm that makes it my "go to" Driver game. If I want serious driving, Driver 1 for sure. Even that game that's made by some fans I think, The Driver Syndicate - that's pretty good for what it is and I'd recommend giving that a shot. Driver 2 & 3 on GBA are absolutely amazing ports. Well done to the TWO guys who ported them over. I did play '76 on PSP but gave up on it fairly quick. I just had Driver and Driver 2 on my PSP with CFW and just stuff around in that. God damn, just remembered when I had access to the internet for one of the first times and I looked up cheat codes on some random website in 2002 or whatever and it was like "Do all this crap to fly Lennys helicopter!". Safe to say it didn't work but man I tried. I better not keep rambling or I won't shut up. Thanks for looking back over the Driver franchise. Should look at Driver SF on Wii. That's a whole different game. Driver Undercover if you REALLY want to lol. Cheers for the videos man :)

After I saw that poll you did a couple of months a go, I went and got a PC copy. Had a lot of fun, even though I dropped it after a couple of hours. Only later I realized you could download a mod do add the piss-filter post-processing effect from consoles back!

Driver SF Wii was really the return to form that people expected the main release to be.

good video, never been a fan of the driver series, yet I watched all the retrospectives

I'm a simple man. I see a Minimme video I watch it till the end. Been a blast watching you review all the Drivers thru and thru. I'm more unfamiliar with the spinoffs to extent so it'll be interesting to hear what you got to say.

Driver San Francisco came out at a time when I felt like the only racing enthusiast left on Earth. I wish I could find a PC copy nowadays so I could play it again, but Ubisoft seems content to never let it see the light of day again.

i am so frickin pumped for this video.

This brings back such memories of renting this game from the video store and smashing cars in multiplayer with my brothers

I've just came to a relization that Driver San Francisco, along with Driver 3 were the games (or rather the moments in time) that established my music taste. Thank you!

The thing that amazed me the most about Driver SF is the handling physics. Simply amazing. Imagine if the Need for Speed games of today used a similar handling model. It would fix those games.