Task Search
Checklists
How creative can you get with your first free checklist?
Basics
There’s a lot to Driver: San Francisco, in terms of volume of content. At first it can all be a bit overwhelming. Everything becomes a lot easier to manage once you figure out the basics, though.
Flow of the Game
Once you clear the Prologue, you’ll find that the game follows a predictable structure. You start a new chapter and there are 4 Side Missions available. You must complete two of them to access each mission that pertains directly to the story in that chapter.
Completing the side missions also unlocks Activities, which you can complete to unlock new vehicles for purchase in one of your garages.
advertisement
There are a total of 10 garages in the game, which you can pay to unlock by around the game’s halfway point (when the full map becomes available). In garages, you can purchase upgrades for your vehicle, assuming that you have completed enough Dares. There are 80 dares in all, but you only access new rewards for the first 50 of them that you complete. From the garage, you can also attempt any Challenges that you have unlocked.
When you begin a new chapter, you’ll notice the aforementioned Dares on the map. You’ll also see little blue dots that represent the locations of film reels. How many you see depends on which upgrades you have purchased in the garage.
Vehicles
When you work through Story missions, you’ll be restricted when it comes to which vehicle you can drive. You’ll typically be driving the Dodge Challenger R/T, which has good Strength and can take a number of collisions without needing repairs. Challenge missions also provide you with a specific vehicle, depending on the challenge in question.
If you attempt Dares, Stunts, Races and Chases, you will use whatever car you’ve last set as active when leaving the garage (unless you decide to shift to a different vehicle). Nearly every vehicle handles differently, or accelerates at a different rate, or has a lighter or heavier body that makes it better at going over jumps and catching air than the next one. You can see the statistics for each vehicle in a garage, but they don’t tell the whole story. You’ll have to experiment with cars to find which ones work best for you.
Shifting
The main ability that makes Driver: San Francisco so unique is your ability to shift from one car to another. You can do so in nearly every Story campaign mission. Once you press a button, you can then pull out the map and look around for other vehicles. Unless a vehicle has been disabled, you can shift right into it and keep driving.
When you shift into a vehicle, you become the driver and the vehicle that you left is abandoned as you drive a short distance away from it. Whoever was driving a rig before you shifted into it will take over control again. The only way that a vehicle is likely to remain stationary is if it has taken so much damage that it is no longer able to power itself down the road.
It’s worth keeping in mind that clever use of your ability to shift can help you to more easily clear some events. For instance, if you have to take down street racers, the easiest way to do so is to shift into a car in the oncoming lane and drive head-on into your opponents. You can force opponents to retire so that you don’t have to finish the race, or just take out someone who is getting too close to passing you. There are all kinds of great strategies that can be put to use. Elsewhere, you can shift into vehicle transporters and move them into position, then quickly shift to another car and send yourself flying over the top of the transporter to reach out-of-the-way film reels.
Shifting is also a great way to move around San Francisco in a hurry. As you progress through the game, you will be able to pull the map out further and further and you’ll see more information about waiting events that need to be completed.
Other Abilities
Except for in Challenges and at certain other instances throughout the game, you will have access to a couple of extra abilities beyond shifting: ramming and boosting. You can also drift.
advertisement
Ramming and boosting both make use of your ability meter, which you can upgrade throughout the course of the game. Your meter drains as you boost and then will refill at a route determined by purchased upgrades. Boosting is great on straight stretches and can give your top speed a slight boost. It also allows you to fly over the top of hills and vehicle transporters to catch major air (necessary if you want to collect some of the film reels).
Ramming is less useful than boosting because you have to charge it up and it rarely accomplishes anything that some quick boost won’t do instead. When you ram, you can charge through obstacles and knock cars to the side. The only time you’re likely to really use it is when you’re trying to take down a rival car in a race.
Finally, drifting is occasionally important for some events. As you head into a curve, you can tap the brake and then turn the car slightly to the side. You should start into a drift and you can maintain that drift as you head around a curve as long as your car doesn’t crash into an obstacle or straighten up again. Drifts are a terrific way to maintain speed as you negotiate certain corners, but it will likely take a fair bit of practice before you can drift like a pro.
Final Tips
Keep in mind that for many events, there’s more that you need to focus on than just winning or even driving quickly. Often, it’s easier to negotiate tough turns if you head into them at only moderate speed, then accelerate out of them (just as you would if driving a real car). You can also avoid traffic more easily if you save your top speeds for straight stretches.
Another thing to keep in mind is that intersections are the enemy. If you’re coming up on a car as it’s approaching an intersection, give yourself room to either side in case the car decides at the last minute to turn. You don’t want to run a great race and find yourself about to cross the finish line in first place, only to have a driver who isn’t even in the race turn right in front of you and set you to spinning. It’s not a fun experience.
If you’re trying to purchase vehicles or upgrades in the garages, particularly early in the game, remember that you can tag a police car to start a high-speed pursuit. If you can evade the police pursuit quickly, you’ll be rewarded with a lot of willpower (the game’s currency). Another option is to shift into a police car and then look around for a vehicle with a red icon floating over it. You can tag that vehicle (while driving a police car) to give chase.
Remember that you’re also awarded willpower for performing tricks in traffic. If you overtake a car, or if you drive in the wrong lane or manage great jumps and drifts, you’ll earn willpower and have fun doing it.
The most important tip is to learn the city. Get to know the ramps that lead to the freeway, know where to find garages and shortcuts and learn to be comfortable with the mini-map for those moments where you need reminders. There’s a lot to keep in mind, but with a little effort you can own this virtual San Francisco!