Players assume the identity of an undercover cop trying to infiltrate a crime ring spanning Miami, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Empire State Building mark the realistic landscape. Motorists can demonstrate their wheel skills in multipart scenarios ranging from a bank job getaway to snatching a cop car. Visually, Driver is superb. Wheels kick up dust as cars skid through turns and cumulative damage from collisions mirrors reality.
Black smoke starts pouring from the engine after too many front-end crashes.
Players can become directors, placing cameras in different positions to record chase scenes from angles inside the vehicle, around the corner, behind, etc. Driver is tough. As in real life, it takes the skills of a race car driver to thread the needle through oncoming traffic, take corners on two wheels and spin 180 degrees to accelerate away from a police roadblock. For all its realism, Driver wisely holds back on the bloodletting. Pedestrians always manage to jump clear of the wayward driver barreling down the sidewalk.