GTP Video Game Cool Wall: Driver: You are the Wheelman

[Cowboy]

Driver: You are the Wheelman, nominated by @Cowboy

Released: June 30, 1999
Platforms: PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Color, Macintosh, IOS
Developer: Reflections Interactive
Genre: Driving, action

Spoiler: Information

The game is played out in four cities: Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, each of which remain only partially faithful to the actual city layouts. The game was notable at the time of its original release insofar as the player was able to explore each city as an open world environment.

The game was designed to mimic 1960s and 1970s car chase films. The title and the general tone seem to be heavily inspired by the 1978 crime film The Driver, written and directed by Walter Hill, which itself was based on the 1967 French film Le Samouraï, written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. One of the most notable allusions to the film is the "Training" level at the beginning of the game, which is very similar to a scene in the film in which the driver (played by Ryan O'Neal) must prove his skills to his potential employers in a parking garage. The music, character design, and the cars themselves, are inspired by films such as 1968's Bullitt and television series such as Starsky and Hutch.

 

[ToyGTone]

One of the best PS1 games.

SZ although by non gamer perspective, every game will be SU so how the Cool Wall will even work?

 

[Rage Racer]

I only played Driver 2, and I have great memories about that game. Never played the first part though, but I think it is Cool at least.

 

[MMX]

I don't remember if it was the first or second Driver, but a line has stuck with me all these years, from a mission I had to keep doing, before I was successful.

"This wagon is heavy with the jelly. Take it out, before it gets across town."

 

[marcvic]

Sub-Zero. At least once you get past the initial initiation in the parking garage - man I struggled with that so much as a kid! Lots of unique style to this game.

I don't remember if it was the first or second Driver, but a line has stuck with me all these years, from a mission I had to keep doing, before I was successful.

"This wagon is heavy with the jelly. Take it out, before it gets across town."

That was the second one. When they introduced their revolutionary "curved road system"

 

[MisterWaffles]

Just a question but why are we rating a video game based on coolness? I think a descending scale of A,B,C,D and F would work better.

 

[ToyGTone]

Just a question but why are we rating a video game based on coolness? I think a descending scale of A,B,C,D and F would work better.

We tend to look at cars on cool wall based on how others especially non car people would react to.

I find doing this on Video games would be weird due to how no gamers would look at it and think how stupid or silly that is no matter what. That's the main problem I have with.

 

[SomePlayaDude]

Tutorial is harder than most of the game simulator.

 

[Thematic]

Games are art.

 

[Brend]

Accidentally clicked seriously uncool. !

I meant Sub-Zero, what a game.

 

[Morgoth_666]

I still remember playing Driver, wish I could forget it. It was a pretty cool concept but easily among the worst driving games I ever played. The entire time it felt as if you were driving underwater, so sluggish and imprecise. Zero challenge for the entire game until the final mission which was completely impossible. Apparently a lot of people liked it but I had no idea what they saw in it. I rented it, got to the end in a day or two and then spent at least that long again trying to beat the ridiculous final mission with the atrocious physics. The sequels may have been better but I never gave any of them a chance after the first game was so terrible. It's too bad because as I said it was a decent concept and could have been a decent game if it had anything resembling usable physics and any challenge throughout.

 

[Cowboy]

The first game I ever played, and I'm glad I did. Everything feels right about the game; the music fits perfectly with the atmosphere of wherever you are. The chases and replays of chases are very cool also.

Sub-zero

 

[MisterWaffles]

I've never actually played this game, but from what I've seen so far I think I'd enjoy it.

 

[AudiMan2011]

One of my favorite games of all time. The tutorial drove me insane.

Very Cool.

 

[Michelin Man]

The genesis of the Driver series. Absolutely loved playing Driver, and still do from time to time to be honest. It was such a clever concept, and well executed too. I think @Cowboy touches on it perfectly, as it's something Driver has always been good at, particularly in the first few games, but the sense of an atmosphere being created was excellent. The music was perfect for each location, and the environment added to it. Used to love just driving around, sliding the car around. And then thinking I was in some classic 70s cop drama, when I got involved in a police chase .

One feature I loved from the 1st 3, was the driving games, especially the pursuit game-mode. Used to love chasing down the target in San Francisco, which seemed to be harder than the Miami pursuits, might just be me. Remember one instance where I spent ages trying to destroy the yellow estate in San Francisco, until things finally came to blow's when I executed a perfect T-bone, that sent both of us flying onto our sides , fun times.

 

[ThrasherDBS]

There were a few frustrating parts to this game, namely the beginning "training" level, but after a while, you get a hang of the physics.

Take A Ride was probably my favorite game mode, it felt great to just drive around and explore everywhere, and the music was awesome.

This earns a B from me.

 

[Stephan]

That damn tutorial mission.

Luckily before I even got the chance to play Driver, I already completed Driver San Francisco and that game featured the tutorial mission. But of course the difference between that and the original is the physics. I can understand the pain the players had to go through back in 1999 where internet wasn't yet a thing back then where they had no idea what to do unless they know someone whom he/she knows the driving techniques that had to be done in the tutorial.

But still what a good game Driver: You Are The Wheelman was back then. It definitely captured that cop chase movie feel until 2 took things even further. Of course Driv3r was a mess and Parallel Lines is what Driv3r should've been in the first place and eventually San Francisco brought Driver back to life but it was too late.

I'll give Driver an A/Sub Zero. Great game back then for the PS1.

 

[ThrasherDBS]

Well to be honest, it wasn't a total "you had to look it up on the internet thing", there's a "practice" mode on the main menu, and you can either hone your skills with obstacle courses that take place on a desert track, or do the car park thing. If you pick that from the practice mode menu, it straight up shows you exactly what it expects you to do for each and every item on that list.

The pain in the neck of it came with how picky the game was. Did a reverse 180 but at the wrong end of the parking garage? Sucks. Turned the wrong way? Oh well. Did your lap clockwise instead of counter-clockwise? You went the wrong way, dummy.

Shame they didn't bring back the 1971 Chevelle for the mission in Driver San Francisco, but the fact that you unlocked the mission by taking a DeLorean and driving it past 88 miles per hour was a nice touch.

 

[Vic Reign93]

Ah the game that showed me that there's more to driving than just racing.

The tutorial and the final mission have gone down in history as incredibly challenging and just plain frustrating, the tutorial was more down to most of us not knowing how to do any of the techniques listed and the final mission was down to being a very slightly toned down Survival event.

I imagine today most of us would blitz the tutorial without breaking a sweat and maybe even under 30 seconds as well and the final mission while still tough will be much more manageable.

Also, Survival mode was great fun with a few friends and the numerous game modes also were great fun.

And this ones specific to me. if you get slammed through a building in Driver 1, you can park up and laugh at the cops trying to get to you, if you get slammed through a building in Driver 2, you fall into the abyss, screen goes black and that's your run over.

Doubly annoying when the game started getting really buggy and sometimes the road would lose its collision physics and I just drop straight through.

That abyss scarred me for awhile when I was young as I was reluctant to continue in any game if I ended up in a situation which I felt was gonna break the game.

But back to Driver 1, music was great, the story missions had different branchs you could go down, driving physics were great for the time and it was always fun to go back to as well.

A Sub Zero vote from me. 👍

 

[Matej]

Great game with memorable music and atmosphere. Shame you couldn't pick between multiple cars in Take a Ride mode. A pet peeve of mine was repeatedly receiving damage just because I was being in physical contact with a wall or other vehicle. But back in the days all these details didn't really matter.

Driver 3 looked promising until you got behind the wheel, then it all fell apart. Parallel Lines improved many things (driving in particular), but at the end of the day, it was a GTA clone that rarely felt like a Driver game.

The PS1 Driver games receive the highest grades for me. I don't think their quality will ever be matched.

 

[yabiggoose]

A car chase game? SZ

 

[VXR]

Effortlessly cool in 1999, started to lose its shine with the third game, although incidentally, having Nice meant it had the coolest location of all. I used to love the free drive mode, because it was the first time I could role play as a law abiding citizen, stopping for fuel or ‘groceries’ etc.

I’ll give it a B.