''Driver'' is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

series developed by Reflections Interactive (now Ubisoft Reflections), and originally published by

GT Interactive GT, Gt or G-T may refer to: Arts and entertainment Games * GT Interactive, an American video game developer * GameTrailers, a video game website * ''Golden Tee Golf'', golf video game * Gran Turismo (series), ''Gran Turismo'' (series), a series ...

, later by Atari and now by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include ''Assassin's Creed'', '' Far Cry'', ...

. The

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and pla ...

consists of a mixture of

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

and

driving Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to ...

in open world environments. Since the series began in 1999, there have been five main installments released. As of August 2011, the series has sold more than 16 million units worldwide.

Games

''Driver''

The first game of the ''Driver'' series was released for the PlayStation on 25 June 1999 in Europe and 30 June in the U.S. It was later released in 2000 for

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

in April,

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

in September,

Mac Mac or MAC most commonly refers to: * Mac (computer), a family of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * A variant of the word macaroni, mostly used in the name of the dish mac and cheese * Mac, ...

in December, and

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

in December 2009. In the game, the player controls a former racecar driver turned undercover police detective named John Tanner. It featured a storyline inspired by 1960's/70's car chase movies such as ''

Bullitt ''Bullitt'' is a 1968 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Peter Yates and produced by Philip D'Antoni. The picture stars Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, and Jacqueline Bisset. The screenplay by Alan Trustman, Alan R. Trustman and H ...

'' (1968) and ''

The Driver ''The Driver'' is a 1978 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by Walter Hill. It stars Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, and Isabelle Adjani. O'Neal is the getaway driver for robberies whose exceptional talent has prevented him being ...

'' (1978) and based in four real-life cities;

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. It was the best selling game of the ''Driver'' series and an evolution of the freedom to explore a city as brought forth in the early ''Grand Theft Auto'' games.

''Driver 2''

The second installment in the ''Driver'' series was released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

on 13 November 2000 in the U.S. by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive#Infogrames subsidiary, Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. (1993–present), Atari, Inc. It ...

(now known as Atari), and later ported to the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

on 4 October 2002 in the U.S. It featured detective John Tanner once more, along with a new partner, detective Tobias Jones, in four more real-life cities (

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...

, and

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

). It was the first game in the series to feature 2-player modes, curved roads, and the ability to get out of the car at any time (apart from while being in a pursuit from the police) in order to steal another car on the street.

''Driver 3''

The third installment in the ''Driver'' series was released for the PlayStation 2 and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

on 21 June 2004 in the U.S. to generally mixed or poor reviews (despite new features such as the ability to use firearms). The game takes place in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. It was subsequently followed by versions for

, and

''Driver: Parallel Lines''

The fourth game in the series, '' Driver: Parallel Lines'', was released 14 March 2006 for PlayStation 2 and

in the U.S., and 26 June 2007 for

and Wii in the U.S. Reflections intended ''Parallel Lines'' to "return the series to its roots" by focusing more on driving. The game differs greatly in other aspects from its predecessors, though, as the story no longer follows undercover police officer Tanner and the game takes place in only one location,

. The new main player's name is TK, a criminal rather than a cop. The game includes two time periods, 1978 and 2006, when the main player is sentenced to prison for 28 years and returns in 2006. The game received better reviews, but unlike ''Driver 3'', did not sell particularly well.

''Driver 76''

''Driver 76'' is a PlayStation Portable game in the ''Driver'' series. Set in New York City in 1976, two years before the events in the first half of '' Driver: Parallel Lines'', the player takes the role of Ray, TK's friend and a supporting character from ''Parallel Lines''. The game was developed by Sumo Digital and Reflections, and was the first ''Driver'' game published by Ubisoft after they acquired Reflections. It was released on 8 May 2007 in the U.S.

''Driver: San Francisco''

The fifth ''Driver'' game was long rumored to be in production. After several years of speculation, Ubisoft unveiled ''Driver: San Francisco'' at E3 2010. After several delays, it was released in September 2011 along with ''Driver: Renegade 3D''. The game takes place in one location,

, and follows the series protagonist, Tanner, being in a coma after suffering an accident. Thus, the player controls Tanner during his coma dream. The plot of the Wii version of ''Driver: San Francisco'' is completely different from the other versions, being a prequel to the events of the original '' Driver''. For the game, developers decided to remove the ability to get out of a car in order to steal another car on the street. Instead, they created a new mechanic called "Shift", enabling the players to shift to any car at any time, aside from a few missions. The game received generally positive reviews, getting the highest ratings in the whole series after ''Driver''. Like ''Driver 3'', it sold particularly well.

''Driver: Renegade 3D''

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generati ...

game, ''Driver: Renegade 3D'' follows John Tanner trying to take down the

crime mobs. It was released in September 2011 at the same time as ''Driver: San Francisco''.

''Driver: Speedboat Paradise''

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

smartphone game was released on iOS and Android in December 2014. The game, which makes use of

in-app purchases Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...

, revolves solely around missions on speedboats.

Novels

''Driver: Nemesis'', a novel written by Alex Sharp, was published in 2010 to coincide with the release of '' Driver: San Francisco''. The novel is a sequel to ''Driver 2'' and a prequel to the events of ''Driver: San Francisco'', taking place at some point before Hurricane Katrina. The story follows John Tanner's undercover infiltration to a crime network in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Driver: Vegas'' (released in 2006) and '' Driver: L.A. Undercover'' (released in 2007) are two mobile games featuring John Tanner. ''Vegas'' features his exploits in

in an attempt to exact revenge on Charles Jericho after ''

Driver 3 ''Driver 3'' (stylized as ''DRIV3R'') is a 2004 action-adventure game, the third installment in the ''Driver'' series. It was developed by Reflections Interactive, published by Atari, and released on PlayStation 2, Xbox and mobile phones in J ...

'', while ''L.A. Undercover'', set two years later, features Tanner's exploits in

to take down the Los Angeles Mafia by working his way up the ladder.

''C.O.P. The Recruit''

Ubisoft released '' C.O.P. The Recruit'' for Nintendo DS on November 3, 2009. It was originally registered under numerous names, one of which being "Driver: The Recruit".

''Watch Dogs''

Ubisoft Montreal had been working on its own sequel in the ''Driver'' series at the same time that Ubisoft Reflections had been developing ''Driver: San Francisco''. Ubisoft Montreal's game had included some elements of hacking the driving environment to the player advantage, such as triggering street lights, as well as being able to swap from driver to driver. When ''Driver: San Francisco'' released in 2011, it did not do well commercially, leading to the ''Driver'' title in development at Ubisoft Montreal to have portions reworked into the first ''

Watch Dogs ''Watch Dogs'' (stylized as ''WATCH_DOGS'') is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Ubisoft, and developed primarily by its Montreal and Toronto studios using the Disrupt game engine. The series' eponymous first title was rele ...

'' game. Ubisoft Reflections subsequently helped Ubisoft Montreal in building out ''Watch Dogs'' for release, handling most of the driving portions of the game while Ubisoft Montreal handled the details related to on-foot missions and hacking. The game's Disrupt engine was originally intended for this ''Driver'' game in development.

Film and television adaptations

In February 2002, Impact Pictures, the production team of Paul W. S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, had acquired the film and TV rights to adapt the Atari video game '' Driver''. Screenwriters James DeMonaco, Todd Jason Harthan, and James Roday were developing a script at the time. Impact Pictures had originally intended to produce the film ''Driver'' to coincide with the release of the video game ''

''. The following November, Impact Pictures announced its plans to produce a $50 million adaptation of ''Driver'' after wrapping up principal photography on '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse''. In April 2006,

Rogue Pictures Rogue (originally Rogue Pictures) is an American independent production company founded in 1998 by Patrick Gunn and Matt Wall, originally started off as a genre film label of the Universal-affiliated independent film studio October Films and was ...

acquired the film rights to ''Driver'' from Impact Pictures and Constantin Films, the production companies responsible for the ''Resident Evil'' film franchise.

Roger Avary Roger Roberts Avary (born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian-American film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. He collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on ''Pulp Fiction'', for which they won Best Original Screenplay at the 67th Acad ...

replaced the original screenwriters in writing the script for ''Driver'', as well as directing the film. Prior to January 2007, ''Driver'', having a budget of $48 million, was slated to shoot at Cinespace Studios' MT28 lot in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada. Due to a waterfront revitalization project, the studio was forced to move and the film was put on hold. In May 2009, the movie script was leaked on the internet. On 14 September 2021, Ubisoft announced a live-action ''Driver'' series was coming to the Binge gaming streaming platform.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Driver (Series) Action-adventure games Open-world video games Organized crime video games Ubisoft franchises Racing video games Video game franchises Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video game franchises introduced in 1999