Night Driver (video game)

Night Driver is an arcade video game developed by Atari, Inc. and released in the United States in October 1976.

Night Driver has a black and white display with the hood of the player's car painted on a plastic overlay.

The game is controlled with a single pedal for the accelerator, a wheel for steering and a four-selection lever for gear shifting.

[12] Night Driver has similarities to arcade driving electro-mechanical games, which had a scrolling road rather than a fixed view.

That the car is driving at night provided an excuse for the minimal graphics, as most features (like the street and buildings) aren't visible in the dark.

[15][16] Atari used some of the leftover arcade cabinets from Hi-way (1975), a top-down vertically scrolling racing game, for Night Driver.

Night Driver also drew comparisons to Midway Manufacturing's Midnight Racer (later re-branded Datsun 280 ZZZAP) at the same show and an earlier German night driving video game (Nürburgring 1) demonstrated at the German IMA show in Spring 1976.

[22] In the United States, according to Play Meter magazine, Night Driver was the sixth highest-earning arcade video game of 1977.

Atari VCS Night Driver
A Night Driver arcade machine