History VideoGame / DriverSanFrancisco

** Of course, it takes a more serious turn as Jun and Ayumu are forced to race as Jericho now owns every race in the city at that point. From the dialogue of "ending up like that big guy, Krug", it implies that the cars have bombs planted on them, effectively forcing them to race or die. Then they start making light of it by telling off the person offering their job to "tell Jericho to stick his money where the sun don't shine". Jun!Tanner is ''not'' happy at how casually they're telling off such dangerous people like Jericho's mooks.
* UnderTheTruck: Rather not with motorcycles but with ''cars'', the trailers ride so high that even the sedans can perform what the game calls a "truck tuck" without resulting in an InstantConvertible. Two missions require you to use cars and drive beneath trucks in order to defuse a bomb stowed beneath them.

* UnderTheTruck: Rather not with motorcycles but with ''cars'', the trailers right so high that even the sedans can perform what the game calls a "truck tuck" without resulting in an InstantConvertible. Two missions require you to use cars and drive beneath trucks in order to defuse a bomb stowed beneath them.

** Of course, it takes a more serious turn as Jun and Ayumu are forced to race as Jericho now owns every race in the city at that point. From the dialogue of "ending up like that big guy, Krug", it implies that the cars have bombs planted on them, effectively forcing them to race or die.

** Looking for a red SUV with stolen sheet platinum has Tanner shift into the co-pilot of a police helicopter. It plays out more like an interactive cut-scene, you don't have to scan any of the vehicles until you see a Land Rover Range Rover Sport suspiciously parked on an off-road with [[CreepyCrows crows circling around it]].

* UniversalDriversLicense: Tanner has no problem going from his [[DrivingStick manual]] Dodge Challenger R/T to an automatic car whose stick may be on the wheel itself, to an F1 style paddle-shifter up to a school bus, armored van or the eighteen wheel semi-truck. The game even properly animates these situations in first person, complete with Tanner putting his hand on the wheel stick when reversing an automatic or having a separate, slanted-wheel animation for larger vehicles. Being AllJustADream, it makes sense.

* MushroomSamba: One mission involves a spider collector whose boyfriend got bitten by a "Congolese Dream Widow", which means intense hallucinations that degrades into a coma with the only prevention being adrenaline. Thankfully she happens to be driving a Chevrolet Corvette [=Z06=] to perform winding drifts to keep Sam awake. Among his hallucinations involve seeing a bright light (which Joni!Tanner is confused if it's GoIntoTheLight or stay out of the light to stay alive), Joni!Tanner's head being a big balloon, big angry screeching owls, thinking he's going to the park and sleeping atop a big bear among other crazy things. The whole mission becomes DramaticIrony when you think about it as the game states "Coma Averted!" when you reach the hospital and win the mission, too bad you couldn't avert a certain other coma...

* MushroomSamba: One mission involves a spider collector whose boyfriend got bitten by a "Congolese Dream Widow", which means intense hallucinations that degrades into a coma with the only prevention being adrenaline. Thankfully she happens to be driving a Chevrolet Corvette [=Z06=] to perform winding drifts to keep Sam awake. Among his hallucinations involve seeing a bright light (which Joni!Tanner is confused if it's GoIntoTheLight or stay out of the light to stay alive), Joni!Tanner's head being a big balloon, big angry screeching owls, thinking he's going to the park and sleeping atop a big bear among other crazy things. The whole mission becomes DramaticIrony when you think about it as the game states "Coma Averted!" when you reach the hospital and win the mission, too bad you couldn't avert a certain other coma..

** While the Nissan Skyline GT-R (R33) is in the game, some photos indicated it would have been in it's right-hand drive configuration but no other cars in the game are right-hand drive anyways. This is probably also the reason cars like the Jaguar [=XJ220=] and XJR-15 don't appear as they were exclusively right-hand drive.

* AdultFear: During the mission where you help Toby get his son back from a kidnapper, his voice is constantly wavering and on the verge of tears and justifiably so with Cyrus' threats to kill his son if he doesn't give him the money he wants. It's any parent's nightmare where the safety of your child verges on paying large amounts of money you don't even have.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: You can invert this by invoking this on rival drivers! To quote Krug "It was like every driver in the city was an undercover cop!"

* HideYourChildren: Despite the presence of a school bus, it's mostly downplayed, the only time a child is mentioned is when helping Toby get his child back from a kidnapper.

* NewGamePlus: Story progress is reset but once you pass the essential tutorial missions, the entirety of San Francisco is open without the early game [[BrokenBridge Broken Bridges]] and you retain all of your abilities, upgrades, cars unlocked, etc.

* NobodyCanDie: As a departure from GTA-style shenanigans of the past, no one can die regardless of how terrible cars can potentially get wrecked. Guns seem strangely unheard of in this game (minus their brief appearance in the prologue) despite various criminals and police likely benefiting if they had them. There are a few times during the story when death is implied or likely, but it's never shown such as the car bomb that offs Krug or when Leila cuts the safety harness to the camera man in the news chopper to let him plummet in the intro

* WouldHurtAChild: Cyrus, who kidnapped Toby's son and is willing to kill him for the money Toby has among threats of having a box the size of David's body and "having him picked up in several black bags".
* YourMom: Tanner to someone during ''It's For Charity'' after already being fed up by their commentary and the fact the Jalpa they were driving is almost wrecked.

* HeroicComedicSociopath: Tanner is rather gleeful when he makes other people drive recklessly and scare the passengers.

* YourMom: Tanner to someone during ''It's For Charity''.
--> [[SassyBlackWoman Passenger]]: "This car is worth cash money!"

* AnimalMotifs: CreepyCrows show up around car bombs about to go off or when something in Tanner's head doesn't quite match reality.

** While the Nissan Skyline GT-R (R33) is in the game, some photos indicated it would have been in it's right-hand drive configuration but no other cars in the game are right-hand drive anyways. This is probably also the reason the Jaguar [=XJ220=] and XJR-15 don't appear as they were exclusively right-hand drive.

* EverythingTryingToKillYou: You can invert this by invoking this on rival drivers!

* SecretAIMoves: There is this one car that cannot be driven, the [=ASYM=] Desanne which appears as certain police cars in cutscenes or the normal version for many of the cars that are completely trashed, be it blasted by an RPG-7 or planted with a car bomb.

The game received positive reviews for its unique gameplay as well as its campy, ''Series/StarskyAndHutch''-style tone as well as some MindScrew thrown in with the coma dream element. It is available on UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows (via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and [=uPlay=], though [=uPlay=] is tied in to the game regardless), UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}.[[note]]Also to add, of the three platforms, the Xbox version ''doesn't'' have a online pass because Ubisoft botched the code printing for that game. They decided that the only way to fix this was to make the online pass free for everyone on Xbox Live, essentially making the online multiplayer free for all Gold members. The codes still work to unlock some free content, however.[[/note]]

* FragileSpeedster: Any of the sports cars in the game are easily (nearly) totaled at high speed, but the most fragile example can be the Alfa Romeo Guilia [=TZ2=].

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Played with. During Jericho's escape, Leliana shoots a moving police car with an RPG from a helicopter. The skills required for this shot immediately give Tanner and Jones a place to start their investigation.

* [[{{InfinityPlusOneSword}} Infinity Plus One Car]]: Both the [=McLaren=] F1 and Pagani Zonda Cinque are two of the fastest cars in the game and able to take corners with ease. They're also the most expensive, costing 750,000 and ''1,000,000'' WP, respectively.

* CoolCar: Out of the 140 vehicles to choose from, a lot of them are darn cool from muscle cars, super cars, luxury cars and a ''lot'' of them are a reference to one movie or another.

* NobodyCanDie: As a departure from GTA-style shenanigans of the past, no one can die regardless of how terrible cars can potentially get wrecked. Guns seem strangely unheard of in this game (minus their brief appearance in the prologue) despite various criminals and police likely benefiting if they had them. There are a few times during the story when death is implied or likely, but it's never shown.

--> '''Tanner''': Hey! We agreed never to mention what happened on 'weird Tuesday'. You promised.

*** Then there's the Trans Am from [[SmokeyAndTheBandit Smokey and the Bandit]] and the Mustang from ''Film/{{Gone in|SixtySeconds1974}} [[Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000 60 Seconds]]''.

** Team Race being a hard one to win? Just smash the opponents into retirement. Though opponents in races have their durability buffed out

* DiscOneNuke: If you can be bothered to save up the requisite 150,000 cash required to purchase the Ford GT you have the ability to buy from the very beginning, you'll find it easily beats out every other car you can get until a couple chapters in. Its usefulness is mitigated somewhat by the fact that you can't use it for story missions though.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Surprisingly averted for a game themed off of movie car chases. The only time a vehicle explodes is if it's a tanker filled with something volatile or if the car was rigged with a bomb. Tanner does make a joke alluding to this when teaching "driving lessons" to an (un)fortunate passenger.

* NewYorkCityCops: Tanner is an NYPD detective.

Released in 2011, '''''Driver: San Francisco''''' is the fifth entry in the ''VideoGame/{{Driver}}'' series. The game takes place in, surprise surprise, [[WideOpenSandbox the city of]] UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, in the present day ([[RetroUniverse technically]]), starring series protagonist John Tanner in the pursuit of escaped criminal [[MeaningfulName Charles Jericho]].

** Then again, most of the game takes place in his coma dream and there aren't any rare cars during the first very last chase in the game.
** Even with ''that'' considered, it's still unlikely for a San Francisco cop to use a rare and quite valuable Dodge Challenger as a daily driver and patrol car.
** Well, in some cities (usually small ones), to save money, detectives and undercover cops can get their pick of the cars that have been left unclaimed at the impound lot for several years, and they do get to take them home, but that brings up the question of why someone would just leave it there to rot, unless they fled the country and had to leave it behind, which isn't unheard of, still it would make more sense for the department to auction it off and buy a handful of less expensive used cars.

*** Some of them get REALLY obscure. [[MyNameIsEarl There's a reason they made the El Camino a '73 instead of the '70 El Camino fans are complaining it's not, and his name rhymes with "pearl."]]

** Such as The [[Film/BackToTheFuture DeLorean DMC-12]], a [[Film/{{Bullitt}} 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback]], [[Film/GoneInSixtySeconds1974 another Mustang (a 1973 Mach 1)]], [[SmokeyAndTheBandit Pontiac Trans Am]], [[TheCannonBallRun Lamborghini Countach]], [[TheLoveBug Volkswagen Beetle]] etc. Pretty much every CoolCar used in a chase scene shows up.

** In one mission, you drive a Lamborghini Jalpa that is so thoroughly trashed one more hit trash it.

** In one mission, you drive a Lamborghini Jalpa that is so thoroughly trashed one more hit will turn it into a firey ball of shrapnel.

** Certain cars due to their stats, count as this. Cars with high drift can count as this, as they are the ones most likely to spin you out in simple turns or simply by accelerating. The most drifty car would have to be the Corvette Z06.

Following the events of ''[=Driv3r=]'', Jericho is being taken into custody in an armored truck. Although Tanner's partner, Tobias Jones, insists Jericho's in safe hands, Tanner himself isn't so sure and tails the van just in case. Sure enough, Jericho breaks free of his handcuffs and hijacks the truck. During his escape, Jericho slams Tanner's car with the truck, [[AdventuresInComaland causing Tanner to enter a coma]]. From here on out, the game takes place in Tanner's coma dreams, influenced by the news broadcast in his hospital room, in which he continues the chase for Jericho through San Francisco.

** Certain cars due to their stats, count as this. Cars with high drift can count as this, as they are the ones most likely to spin you out in simple turns.

** Team Race being a hard one to win? Just smash the opponents into retirement. To be fair, opponents in these races are (almost) MadeOfIndestructium and sometimes even a Haulier might not stop one.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muhgbVLG8Eg BUSSIN]] Brutally Unfair Strategy Showcases Ingenuity Nicely. A title that would make the title writer of [[WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor KND]] proud.
* CoolCar: Tanner's Dodge Challenger. This also applies to some of the 139 other vehicles

* DramaticIrony: Throughout ''San Francisco'', the player is aware of Tanner's coma, but Tanner himself isn't.

* NewGamePlus: Which allows you to still fully explore San Francisco with your highest level shift and boost/ram abilities. Also carrying over your vehicles, garages, willpower, upgrades. etc.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: In-universe example, the reason the events in the game's coma dream match what happens in reality after TheReveal, is because the television in the hospital room was on the news station, subconsciously feeding Tanner information of what was happening in real life (which can be very subtly heard if you shift and fly up to the maximum height, along with the heartbeat and heartbeat monitor).

** During the opening, Tanner gets broadsided by a semi truck. Rather than brush it off, Tanner gets hurt enough to go into a coma.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Two cops, one of them you control, smash over 10,000 dollars worth of fake medication despite not having a warrant to do so, thus becoming vigilantes once they lose their badges.
* SecondHourSuperpower: The ability to shift, boost and ram is gradually introduced after a few segments without them.
* SecretAIMoves: There is this one car that cannot be driven, the [=ASYM=] Desanne which appears as certain police cars in cutscenes or the normal version for many of the cars that usually have car bombs.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: One of the cars available is an armored prison wagon, complete with sirens. Outside of the prologue, it doesn't spawn at all, making the only way to get it through the garage. However, if you do, shift out of it, and start a police chase nearby, it will join in the chase just like any other police car.

* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLABle: No one in the game can properly pronounce [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_County,_California "Marin".]]
* AwesomeButImpractical: The game's extreme emphasis on drifting means you can pull off some sweet moves, but trying to drive normally (like, say, how you would in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto 4'') often causes your car to spin wildly out of control, even at moderate speeds.

* BoringButPractical: A lot of the more common cars that spawn in traffic a lot, the Ford Crown Victoria, Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, Ford F150, Chevrolet C10, and even the Lincoln Town Car to an extent. However not all the boring cars are practical, see MasterOfNone.

* EasterEgg: Driving the [[spoiler: 1983 [=DeLorean=] DMC-12 at 88 mph]] unlocks [[spoiler: the garage training level from the first ''Driver'' game as a special mission. (This particular car was the time machine in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', and the special mission is appropriately named "Blast from the Past".]]
* EleventhHourSuperpower: The ability to [[spoiler: throw cars at Jericho]]'s RAM SRT-10 during the climax.

* EnemyWithin: There are two Jerichos. The genuine one is loose in the real world, plotting a false flag attack on downtown as a distraction for his jailbreak. The Jericho in Tanner's head is an embodiment of his fear of death. (Hence the theme song, "Race With Death")

--> '''Jones''': You're not pregnant again are you?

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Nobody questions the dubious morality of Tanner ramming innocent bystanders' cars into his opponents. While the game doesn't show any civilians dying even during horrific crashes, it seems they may still be able to feel pain. So even if you're not killing innocents you're still wrecking their cars and probably giving them whiplash and broken bones.

* StoryOverwrite: [[spoiler: at the end, you wake up from your coma, lose your "powers" and get Jericho. After the credits, you return to your coma and can complete the rest of the challenges]].

* ThoseTwoGuys: In the first level, you meet Jun and Ayumu, two down-on-their luck racers trying to make money for Ayumu's college fund. Because it's for a good cause Tanner decides to help them out. However, Ayumu gets the wise idea of continuing to race even after they make all the money, forcing Tanner to help them in most of the following chapters.

* DyingDream: ''San Francisco'' takes place mostly within Tanner's coma dream.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muhgbVLG8Eg BUSSIN]] Brutally Unfair Strategy Showcases Ingenuity Nicely. A title that would make the title writer of [[CodenameKidsNextDoor KND]] proud.