Which brings us on to the second point about the significance of Reflections’ use of cars from the ’70s. It taps into the rich cinematic heritage of classic car chase movies such as Bullit, The French Connection, The Italian Job, Cannonball Run, and The Blues Brothers. The gameplay feels designed to enable you to relive the sliding-down-an-alley-knocking-over-cardboard-boxes chaos of those memorable chases, and it was for exactly this reason that such a comprehensive action replay editor was included. Indeed, Edmondson hails the quality of the replays as Driver’s “greatest achievement"
   
What’s more impressive is the way that Driver’s cinematic borrowings are incorporated into the game itself. The presence of the love-it-or-loathe-it garage trial is predominantly down to the influence of celluloid. “It was influenced by the garage sequence in Walter Hill’s 1978 picture The Driver,” admits Edmondson. “In it, the eponymous driver [Ryan O’Neal] demonstrates his driving abilities by smashing up an orange Mercedes. In the event though, I wish we’d made it optional because I know it really pissed a lot of people off.”


   
The inclusion of such console-unfriendly eccentricities as the garage test, is one of the things that make Driver so noticeable. A testament that behind the opulence of the Antonio ‘Huggy Bear’ Fargas starring adverts the creation of the game was a lot less surefooted – a sure sign of the false starts and stuttering that characterises real innovation. And it’s clear that Edmondson has had second thoughts on many of the game’s most famous features. Of the cutscenes he says, “They were extremely simple and, looking back on them, pretty poor, due to lack of time and resources. We could also have done with a few more to help the player follow the story more.” Even the famous answer-phone-as-mission-choosing-mechanism isn’t exempt from criticism. “Having mission choices in Driver is something I regret to an extent. It made it impossible to tie all the missions into a story.” And what about the insane difficulty level of the last mission, The President’s Run? “Yes, perhaps it was too hard also,” admits Edmondson, sheepishly, before adding, “It's absolutely possible though.”
   
But while many of the problems of these peripheral features were ‘fixed’ for the sequel – the first game is still the title that stands out. The reason being simply, that while the cut-scenes in Driver 2 may be more impressive, the difficulty level more forgiving and the incidentals more polished, it just wasn’t as entertaining. “We probably pushed the envelope too far with Driver 2,” says Edmondson. “We added more cars, curved roads, getting out of the vehicles, splitscreen… Driver was simpler, it ran faster, and had a longer draw distance... I have to admit that if it comes to ten minutes of ragging around the streets I prefer Driver because it feels better.” But perhaps more importantly, the freedom to drive anywhere (the whole point of Edmondson’s initial crossroads idea) was badly curtailed in the sequel.



What’s also very interesting about Driver is that while Reflections’ was dreaming up its freeform 3D driving world, Rockstar was honing a similar vision for its equally prophetic Grand Theft Auto series. Edmondson comments, “Driver started development well before GTA was announced but I must admit I was worried when I read the first GTA press releases because it did sound like Driver.” However, while for most people Reflections’ racers surpassed the PlayStation incarnations of the GTA series, what did he make of the distinctively Driver-like synthesis in later incarnations of the competing franchise, notably GTAIII? “From a design point of view, yes, I was impressed. If you’re talking technically, visually or vehicle dynamics, then no, it was very disappointing.” Touché.

Not that Edmondson needs to worry about the continued critical standing of Driver. Because while the game was to be much imitated, just like Mario Kart (though not quite in the same league), Reflections’ racer has managed to maintain its superiority over the many pretenders to the throne. It’s the handling, the real cities, the civilian vehicles, the mix of the ultra cool and incredibly cheesy… and yes, the cinematic nature, which make Driver special.

This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in E111.
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