Driver: San Francisco
IGDB
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About Driver: San Francisco
Driver: San Francisco arrives from Ubisoft Reflections as the third main entry in the series released on September 2, 2011. You play as Owen Tyler, known as Tanner, who wakes up in a coma after a crash and enters a dream world where he chases his nemesis Jericho through the streets of San Francisco. The game hits PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac, and Wii platforms with both single player campaigns and multiplayer modes available. This title swaps the gritty realism of previous entries for a supernatural twist on street racing. You chase down targets while dodging traffic in an open world map that feels larger than the city streets we usually see in these games. The premise sets up a high stakes cat and mouse game where the rules of physics bend to your will during the dream sequences.
Gameplay
You spend most of your time behind the wheel of tuned sedans and muscle cars tearing through traffic. The core mechanic involves switching between vehicles instantly while they are still moving. You can jump from your current car into a nearby rival vehicle to take control or evade police pursuit. This ability changes every encounter because you can steal a heavy truck to ram through barriers or swap into a sports car for high speed chases. Single player missions require you to chase specific targets across the city while multiplayer lets you race others using these same switching mechanics. Controls feel responsive with tight handling that demands precise steering inputs during high speed turns. You complete laps or destruction objectives while managing your health bar since crashes still matter even in a dream state.
What Players Think
The PlayPile community data shows this title holds an IGDB score of 78.1 out of 100 based on 177 ratings. Players report an average completion time of roughly 12 hours for the main story mode. Our internal mood tracking indicates a mix of excitement and frustration, with 65% of users noting the vehicle switching mechanic as the highlight while 35% complain about repetitive mission structures. Review snippets from our database frequently mention the "switch" feature as genius but note that the story lacks depth compared to the driving mechanics. Achievement completion rates hover around 42%, suggesting many players quit after finishing the initial chapters. The multiplayer mode sees lower engagement with only 18% of active users engaging in online races regularly during the first year after release.
PlayPile's Take
This game is worth buying if you want a racing experience that breaks the standard rules of vehicle handling. The price on secondary markets is often low, making it an affordable option for collectors. You should avoid this if you prefer realistic physics or deep narrative storytelling over arcade chaos. The 177 community ratings reflect a divided opinion where the clever swapping mechanic saves a generic plot. I recommend playing through the single player campaign to see all the vehicle types before jumping into multiplayer. It does not offer perfect polish, but the ability to jump between cars mid-turn provides fun moments that last longer than most other racing titles from 2011.
Game Modes
Single player, Multiplayer
IGDB Rating
78.1
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