[10][11] The game, inspired by movie car chases, sees players driving around four real-life cities – Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York – using a variety of vehicles, with the plot focusing on the work of an undercover police officer, John Tanner, who infiltrates a criminal outfit to investigate their operations, only to discover a plot by their boss to assassinate the President of the United States.

The game was notable at the time of its original release insofar as the player was able to explore each city as an open world environment.

After arriving in Miami, Tanner uses his driving skills to prove himself to some gangsters in a parking garage, and becomes their getaway driver.

Tanner later learns from local informant Mojo that Castaldi is working with a man named Don Hancock, who is running for president.

Developed and published by Gameloft, the original plot and structure were left intact, but the graphics were enhanced, the music was re-done, and voice acting was re-recorded for the cutscenes.

[49] In the German market, Driver's PlayStation version received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) by the end of July,[50] indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

[52] In the United States, Driver's jewel case version for computers sold 390,000 copies and earned $3.8 million by August 2006, after its release in October 2000.

Car handling is a wonderful mixture of true physics and arcade functionality—not as nitpicky and sim oriented as Gran Turismo nor as ridiculously implausible as SF Rush.

[31] GameSpot's Ryan MacDonald was not as enthusiastic, saying: "Driver is a game that might be mediocre in its presentation but more than makes up for it in its gameplay and concept".

Smooth frame rates reveal nice textures for the buildings and surroundings, translucent water in areas of Miami, and of course, lens flare".

They concluded that "it is addictive, intuitive, and fun, which are qualities sometimes overlooked in the industry's myopic pursuit of purely technical innovation.

With Driver, Reflections has produced the definitive re-creation of the classic urban car-chase movie and has quite possibly introduced a new genre of driving game".

It's missing a few details from the PlayStation version, but for what Crawfish had to work with hardware-wise, the development team did a great job".

[c] O'Connor noted that a "few graphical tweaks and even some rudimentary changes to the interlace would have made Driver an instant and all-time Mac classic".

[55][56] Despite the general praise, the opening tutorial set in a car park, where the player has to perform various stunts and moves (such as drifting and 180 degree turns) as well as the final mission, were criticised for excessive difficulty.