Does Driver San Francisco Hold Up After 12 Years?

Driver San Francisco is an underated gem from Ubisoft that most still remember to this day. Having now been over 12 years since it's launch does it still hold up well in todays standard?
▼ MORE INFO DOWN BELOW ▼
► Become a Patreon Member!: / dove_7
Early access / Behind the scenes stuff of future projects!
►Check me out Live on Twitch!: / dove_7
Gaming content , challenges and get to interact with me live!
► Join our Discord Community!: / discord
Get notified about streams , KZbin videos and have a good time with our members!
▼OTHER SOCIALS▼
TWITTER ► / dove_7yt
INSTAGRAM ► / _dove_7
Edited by: ‪@dorawings‬

[@theultimateshockwave5450]

The early 2010s was a very weird/cool time for racing games. Driver San Francisco, Motorstorm Apocalypse, Split Second, and the "Edgy" NFS era.

[@MidnightApex-ml6jc]

And Blur

[@CyanRooper]

I think the 7th generation of consoles can be described as an experimental time period for racing games while the 6th generation of consoles was a gold rush for racing games with seemingly everybody trying to make their own racing game.

[@ventilo1825]

don't forget FH1

[@theultimateshockwave5450]

@CyanRooper The part that gets on my nerves is that this era is criminally underrated by racing game fans. I'm a 2007 kid, so games like NFS The Run and Motorstorm Apocalypse is top tier games in my opinion

[@blobbem]

I did enjoy Motorstorm Apocalypse, even if I wanted more of Pacific Rift. Driver San Francisco is an amazing game, and I do want to check out Split/Second in the near future. The 2010s may not be my favourite decade for racing games, but it still has some gold hidden there.

[@Swat_Dennis]

How they have written all of the passenger NPC’s is already a feat on their own

[@VortexStory]

Without using generative AI!

[@Swat_Dennis]

@@VortexStory Seriously, they gave themselves 10 minutes for every single one. I can't remember how many there actually are, but certain passengers are only there for a few missions at best. I thought there were around 300 if I am not mistaken.

[@sarimsalman2698]

​@@Swat_DennisIt was 1000+ individual conversations

[@isaaccastro5866]

But the quotes where quite repetitive, i haven’t played the game since it was out but i only remember a lady asking his husband if he had taken his pills

[@scottmorley7738]

66 voice actors who played over 150 different in game characters with several different stories for each one depending on what you were doing at any given time...Just Awesome!

[@JuanGamer0202]

Its funny how they added one single npc in the open world mode that, when you posses his body, the passenger will see you as Tanner and get scared asking things like "who are you" "what did you do to my friend"

[@flipamation490]

Lol

[@jollyroger7546]

yes, and the coolest part is that it's a blind guy

[@madridista6862]

There's also the woman who feels the disturbance and calls you an angel or something lol. Such a great game.

[@LostAccount.21]

And there's a woman that practically tells you: "Do you know traffic laws? Well, ignore them for the next 50 minutes"

[@p0werfu11]

Absolutely based and aesthetically pleasing game that was a bit underrated in 2011. Love the movie challenges, the amount of dialogues, also it had one of the best soundtracks too. As usual, artsy racing games are underappreciated.

[@lastbeer]

It was the first game I've bought DLCs for! I need Driver 2 so bad!

[@RedzaMalaysianCrossover]

Love the "second person perspective" in one of mission in this game. Very unique and gimmicky racing game.

[@Ward413]

I remember in GTA IV, if you activated the cinematic cam with a wanted level, one of the camera angles was from the perspective of one of the cops chasing you. I wish there was a way to lock the camera so it doesn’t change because I loved running from the cops through their perspective. It was really fun if you had a semi and hot to see the carnage you were causing from the car chasing you.

[@RedzaMalaysianCrossover]

@@Ward413 GTA 3 also did that too.

[@saitama8186]

@@purwantiallan5089bro quit comparing this game to Gran Turismo 7 that’s a racing sim, that’s like comparing an Apple to an Orange 💀 it’s two completely different types of games

[@flipamation490]

U.Kjust watched Nick Robinson videos on driver san Francisco yesterday

[@chickensandwichenjoyer0]

@@Ward413in the lost and damned that is actually an option when riding with a gang

[@BobTheMartin]

If they bring back Driver they have new movies to be inspired by. Driver 4: FAMILY goes to SPACE in a Dodge Neon let's go

[@SomeRightGuy]

Just 100% this game in first person last week! It 100% holds up. The driving feel is unlike any modern title including GTA The animation for first person view is perfect for the huge powerslides and back alley chases. If driver ever comes back i hope they get the same team that made this game!

[@SomeRightGuy]

@@purwantiallan5089 its an excellent experience 👌

[@kristianangeloni]

It even had a proper steering wheel animation with full degrees steering, something that you struggle to find in modern AAA racing games

[@Don_Ramiro]

They were Reflections, the original developer of the franchise. They even brought back Martin Edmonson, the original mastermind

[@raith3700]

I have a lot of memories of having friends over and messing about in the split screen mode. Need to revisit it myself again

[@LeonardoAld]

Me and my father like to do jumps in the large dirt ramp close to the north-east corner, with the most absurd cars possible. It's glorious

[@LeonardoAld]

@@purwantiallan5089 can't say about GT7, but certainly better than Forza 5

[@BobsBangersYTC]

this game needs a remaster or something because it was truly epic!

[@jamesbennett5189]

This was a seriously under rated gem of a game.

[@Indy721]

I love playing it on my Series X. Get a copy while it's cheap! Timeshift is another good one!

[@fordman2212]

This game made me love the 1970 challenger so much I'm a ford guy but that yellow 440 six pack with the shaker hood is just 😩

[@bonzivids9756]

I played this game on my old PS3 slim in around 2012/2013, loved it so much I played it on my PS3 slim again in 2023. This game is my absolute favorite Driver game.

[@xxyvng6831]

I remember growing up watching my brother play and then when i got older making a new profile so i could re play the game, i still have the disc and i dont plan on getting rid of it

[@mikemuller3564]

20 years old game with better damage and driving physics than todays games

[@Indy721]

Back when they cared about making good games.

[@FrancescoPastorino]

i really think that drvsf has the best physic ever for a arcade racing game. its more arcade than forza horizon, so is a different driving, but it's really realistic and you can really feel the differences between the cars in game

[@Rockport1911]

Great game, I still play it form time to time. I think the campaign is a bit short tho. Of course the switching mechanic is great since it also forces all vehicles to be created equally, being real cars from compacts to hypersport and all having some good damage model :) Theres also a mod for a dev- console that elevates the fun :)

[@theneedforspeedninja]

still better than Forza horizon 5

[@2K-Tan]

Facts

[@MewtzieChan]

More playable and stable online mode (when it was around), game doesn’t crash every 12 minutes, game doesn’t care if your offline, characters don’t look like generic “corpo child friendly robots”, DSF isn’t like every other Driver game in the series and they actually tried to switch it up, only thing FH5 has against it? Better camera mode (only because they’ve had 10+ years to build off DSF) and yet despite all that extra time to build off games like this that made the car genre what it is today the cars still feel better in many other games than FH5 lol - GT7, Assetto Corsa, BeamNG, DSF, GTA IV, NFS Unbound (both GTA IV & NFSUnb arcadey but still feels somewhat realistic if you want it to), like seriously tho, Forza has been using same engine for years and years and adding more and more new crap on top making the game just a weird jumble of brand new physics engine stuff cobbled with old physics engine stuff, this is why people have been breaking top speeds going up to like 1000mph with glitch maps and custom tunes that break the game’s physics and let the car just go nnyoom. FH5 is a broken lazy mess. Sounds just like what their parent company, Microsoft used to do with Windows before they finally got off their ass and fixed it with W11.

[@clarysshow3253]

Not gonna lie, I still love the game and I have recently played the whole game again and absolutely loved it. The car physics is just something many big titles can't replicate

[@sirhenners204]

been playing this game pretty much constantly since I got it new in 2011. possibly my favourite driving game ever. nothing comes close.

[@D3hzZ]

my man! i remember watching your streams some years ago and now here i am watching your content on youtube! really liking your videos man, such nice quality! i may hop on stream again sometime

[@thatfalloutghoul7048]

I have so much nostalgia on this game. Love it to bits.

[@jamieoconnor1916]

I think 🤔 a remaster of Driver and 2 would be cool 😎

[@slabhead4832]

i loved this game as a kid on ps3, i played through its entirety until i realised you could buy cars and upgrade tanners skills, at that point I had a stupid amount of money that went into a car shopping spree, it was some really good fun.

[@brielsaideles]

I love this game. It honestly is one of my favorite car games ever, since it has normal, mundane cars.

[@BMoney8600]

I finally got my hands on this game and I can’t help but still pick it up every now and then. It has definitely become one of my favorites.

[@gg_vard]

I was young when I found this game, and I really loved it, the weird storyline and effects

[@motherfuckerjones3854]

This game really needs to be made available on the PlayStation Store.

[@Ward413]

I remember setting up my Logitech G27 wheel to work with this game on PC. I even mapped E-brake to fourth gear on my Logitech shifter to somewhat mimic a handbrake motion. It was so fun.

[@raptorjesus3894]

I think one thing to note about some of the wackier missions you do in the game, is that it's established that Tanner can hear the TV near him in the hospital, so police chases and whatnot mostly come from the news playing them. It's also likely some of the really wacky events though are coming from movies and TV shows that are playing.

[@Indy721]

This is one of my favorite games. I bought 2 copies for Xbox 360. One to play and one to keep!

[@joeGamming1990]

I played this game for hours and its still so much fun for 2023.

[@tolosa998]

where did you get it? I cant find it

[@CkY2k_]

@@tolosa998just found a copy last Friday on offer up

[@alesvlk9574]

@@tolosa998 either bought it a few years ago/ crack it

[@Artificeral]

Thesoundtrack of this game is so good too! So many funk songs from the 70s

[@fullest7896]

I opened the game on my pc a couple days ago, and it was very eerie to play it again after so long

[@TSNAnnotator]

Driver 1 was the first game my dad ever bought me for the PS1. Loved the series ever since (yes, even Driv3r)

[@jamieoconnor1916]

Great video Dove thanks I love your reviews respect 😀 I have great memories of Driver san Francisco there is nothing else like it 😀, the story was crazy 🤪 but very exciting and very fun 😀

[@DirtyImpala]

Driver San Francisco is alike Need for Speed style also or Open World Racing games, but Driver Parallel Lines is a like GTA Games era old school then and early now of the nostalgia eras.

[@GTRFREAK17]

Would be interesting to see Driver take on a GTA Vice City spin and be made for the 1960's or 70's, potentially showing how Tanner gets started and builds his skills.

[@Bl4nkshell]

Yes it does, I still play Split-Screen Tag with my brother to this day. It's not only one of the best racing games ever made, it's truly one of the best games ever made. I love how they paid for real world cars and that you have both sportscars and regular cars like a V6 Mustang, a Dodge Monaco or a Chevy Volt and it's amazing how this game runs at stable 60fps on the Xbox 360.

[@noahboat580]

I remember this game being a rental that i had from the punlic library, it was a way to play xbox 360 games without having to spend on anything besides late-fees. It was definately one of the better ones, but now everyone wants this game, so its hard to come by. I bet that same copy i played got finessed one way or another

[@prilealsilva]

It makes me remember how difficult Driver 2 was as a kid.

[@Boxscot49]

I remember when got this game i didnt have any space on my xbox to save any progress and didnt know i could clear up space and so I would play through the first few hours of the game and then restart all over again and I enjoyed every second of it😂

[@JaggedMercenary]

12 years ago, I was like "meh, this is disappointing". Now in 2024, I think "ugh... Why can't we have great games like this anymore??"

[@Beaula2]

Great series, great game

[@Niklas.K95]

I still remember the Shelby Cobra pirate passenger

[@fromixty]

Amazing game, still my favorite after all these years.

[@StreetRacingLifeStyle]

The driving physics in this game were amazing if the crew had these physics it be a very hard game to beat! and this game has an Amazing City!

[@jaeeaee3856]

I bought this on steam back in 2012 and after getting a steam deck now I’m going to install it

[@zacherxd8553]

Could you make a video on GRID: Race driver (2008)? Great video anyways :)

[@rjai4890]

I remember getting this as a kid cause my mom wouldn’t let me play gta. 😂😂 good times..

[@remissiveslave]

Loved driver. Hard to explain what it was but was memorable.

[@shensky.exe.]

they call him dove because he stays soaring above expectations with these videos

[@gabrielealaimo4316]

I'm waiting for them to make it available on the microsoft store on xbox as there is if you type the title but unfortunely it says it's not available at the moment.

[@user-lt5pe7fe9u]

ITS HOLD!!!! ITS HOLD IN My heart forever!!!

[@LotsOfToubleUsuallySerious]

the java version is probably the most technically impressive racing game of the platform, and a very competent one, being a open world game built in Gameloft's Asphalt java engine. It didn't have car switchs in open world, but the selection was quite varied, the several districts were quite vast for the limited space they were working with, and the graphics made use of 3D environments with 2D cars, an odd combination but did make the game a favor, as full 3D would destroy optimization and/or content

[@6z0]

Many memories on this game

[@JaidenJimenez86]

I could see Driver 1, 2 and 3 remade. I'd love that, it's a pretty cool IP. I think the series deserves it with all the identity crises it suffered after 3, as well as Atari picking it clean.

[@stanleyhipkiss4690]

San fransisco was so ahead of its time with the gta5 style car switch mechanic driver needs a reeboot

[@Malnxxty]

i recently got that game and i love it

[@groozst]

I don't really care about whether or not Driver gets another release. All I care is someone should put the driving physics of Driver San Fran into The Crew. Seems like a wasted potential Also, doing a "no hesi" along Fisherman Wharf is exciting

[@DeathMatch626]

Yes, yes it does, this game is an example that every single game developer should follow to get it right

[@TimSlee1]

The handling in this game still puts many new arcade racing/driving games to shame.

[@kirand92gaming]

OMG so many memories from this game, on wii xD

[@speedbrain666]

Driv3r was the game I was playing before GTA 3

[@C1-Runner]

As someone who grew up only playing NFS games this is possibly the wackiest game I came across lol. The story is really out there but it was actually quite interesting, that and the fact you could hop into other cars on the fly and doing side missions. It's a really interesting concept overall, one that I liked and has strangely never been implemented again. It's a really cool game overall I feel. Props to you and your editor for making this cool video!

[@AndrewKidd14145]

I think about this game all the time

[@electricbird423forester9]

They Atleast need to make a HUGE UPDATE soo they can add new things like a new part of the map new cars but keep the old ones since they add variety and they can add the cars they they haven’t back then

[@nistral]

lmao, i'd forgotten how wacky the story in driver san francisco was. wild

[@gabrielleraul488]

it was a great game, but what's shocking is the 12 years .. seems like yesterday.

[@Cookieturn]

Is it really 12 years old? I remember buying it on release date. That felt like last year jeez

[@maggaveli6764]

Such a fun game, underrated

[@zwingler]

Reminder that Driver 2 and 3 for GBA are open world polygonal 3D racing games.

[@NinjaKid-mg8sv]

I love driver San Francisco

[@CameronDewey-zx7jp]

It would be cool if they could do a Remastered Version of Driver: San Francisco for the PS4, but I think it's best that one of my favorite games of all time is lay to rest. 😔

[@JohnKuhles1966]

Super Duper SAD that they never made: Driver San Francisco II

[@cmwfastracer]

I spent way more time than I should on this game as a kid on my 360.

[@aaron7671]

I have this game on my xbox 360 disk

[@electricbird423forester9]

I still don’t understand why they didn’t added the 2011 charger isn’t it because it’s quite early and they didn’t known by then what it would look like till now

[@50thsaber]

I've been trying for 2 days to get my game to work I cant even launch it how did you do it?

[@user-hk1yv2mc9r]

I think driver SF could use a PS4 or a PS5 port

[@pliantimpala7858]

As one of the fastest/best players on Xbox in the world, and having played the story over 30 times. (despite those being irrelevant to your question XD) yes, this game has aged well. The driving physics alone are second to none, as well as the diverse vehicle list and damage physics system.

[@guardian2521]

I still play this game

[@utter_cringe]

I loved driver San Francisco, it was really fun to play, but it's sad you can only really get it on consoles through a disk.

[@utter_cringe]

@@purwantiallan5089 I never knew there was a PC disk version.

[@aladdinjegham6982]

I miss this game 🥹

[@stuffandjunkandthings364]

I wish they would reboot it as a GTA competitor. Rockstar has gotten extremely lazy with that franchise, and competition would benefit the players,

[@sstephiL]

4:55 was that a indicator on left?

[@No-vq1iv]

I see this question being asked a lot and I don't get it. Have racing games gotten better in the last 12 years without me noticing? 🤔

[@keklord9878]

Didnt watch the Video yet but YES this game is great!

[@sethd1423]

All I'm gonna say is if they remastered this game atleast with roughly the same driving physics I'd buy this game again and again even if they sold it for $100. I'd easily argue its better than most modern free roam games if graphics isn't your argument

[@pwilson-bs1ec]

The only thing this game needed was a manual shift mode and it would have been perfect

[@RiC3R69]

DRIVER 1999 PS1 is Based on the DRIVER 1978 Movie

[@theguyinthere]

Is this the 1 with the second person camera???

[@davidleal7133]

Plays great on rspc3

[@user-jw1pt8ls7b]

Why don’t they make a updated version for the PS4 or the PS5? I miss that game

[@TimSlee1]

This game would be perfect for a remaster I think. But knowing the state of modern gaming I wouldn't get my hopes up if they announced one soon.

[@TimSlee1]

Maybe.@@purwantiallan5089

[@justom5329]

Finich the game 8 time still on of the best game ive ever play

[@MsRCmania]

One of the best racing game ever!!!

[@TwohundredSeventy]

Wish we could buy it on PC now.

[@HairyHarpy]

HEY! The Wii version was Kickass

[@m.e.zz.e.m6546]

Better than most driving/racing games in 2023.... I hope Ubisoft gets Reflections back together and brings back the driver series.

[@Don_Ramiro]

Yes

[@TallTapper]

dove what if we hugged inside the dodge challenger 😳