Driver: The truth about Newcastle
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Back on the 11th September 2007, I posted a video that showed the level Newcastle, on the original Driver for the PS1. Since then, it's had almost 300,000 views and almost 400 comments.
One of those comments, in particular, really piqued my interest. It was from a guy named Barry Richtofen, a developer who worked on Driver at the Reflections game development studio, in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK.
In this video, we'll discuss what Barry revealed about what the end credits were originally intended to look like on Driver.
Also, I think it's worth asking the question: who is Barry Richtofen? Well, it's likely that the name is a pseudonym and he's keeping his real name a secret, as there's no one by the name 'Barry Richtofen' credited for working on Driver.
However, another Reflections developer recently joined the Driver Madness forums and my friend and collaborator, RacingFreak, was able to confirm Barry's account of Newcastle with him, which gives Barry's story validity.
Music: Miami at Night Drive (Driver 20th Anniversary Edition) by Allister Brimble: • Miami at Night Drive
RacingFreak's channel: / racingfreak
Driver Madness forums: drivermadness.n...
Photo credits:
www.chroniclel...
thetab.com/uk/...
#driver #driverps1 #newcastle
I used to live in Newcastle and I can confirm the city has pop-in textures in real life.
Especially after 8 pints.
@Heroin with steez of vokda
@@krashd 8 pints? Yeah add another 10 and a line. What is it with these kids?
Does everyone in Newcastle drive on the wrong side of the road too?
@@danielmarsden4573 they drive however they feel. Lol
I grew up a few miles further down the Tyne and spent most of my satudays in Newcastle. Played hours of Driver on my ps1 when it came out too, but had no idea this level existed until now. Thanks for enlightening me!
In my head, Jimmy Nail as Oz, is reading this out aloud.
Thanks Matt, glad you enjoyed it!
Same here, Durham to be exact
the engine sounds in this game are so memorable
And realistic
@@alexkubrat3868 Nein
You mean the only ONE engine sound in the whole game, right?
@@pedinhuh16 Sadly, yes
Not only engine. CRASHES with glass sounds!
I recently started working for reflections, thanks for sharing this it's so cool to see the studios history
Hold up, Reflections still exists?!?!?
@@pedinhuh16 yeah it’s been behind a few big titles in recent years, the biggest was probably the Division 2
This is really cool. I work out of a building on 1 of these streets and I can instantly pick out many of the individual buildings shown. Interesting fact.... the round guild hall building is where witch trials were conducted in the past. It became a hard rock cafe recently.
I believe the down hill road at 5:50 is Dean Street (with the railway viaduct overhead). Near the bottom on the right is Milburn House where I work out of. I also recognise the brick building at 1:32 and 1:54 as Holy Jesus Hospital (never actually a hospital as we'd think of 1). A former soup kitchen among other things.... worth a Google.
No way! Never seen this, I live about 4 minutes from here, how cool. Had no idea it was made in Newcastle either
Blimey they’ve actually recreated it under the bridge. Drive that every morning, this is great
That is incredible. Fair play to Jack Couvela and the designer for discussing the game. Imagine the other things we could find out from them about the games development, the city design and cut content. I'd love to know more.
Having been a foreigin student for a year in Newcastle Upon Tyne, this was a very personal video to me. Quayside was my HQ every evening when going partying.
Saame tho I had quite a few friends in Jesmond as well so we didn't go all that often
It's a nice place to go out isn't it? I live in a town south of Newcastle and the quayside was actually a safer night out than my town
Edit: there also seemed to be 10 women to every 1 man
I stumbled upon one of your videos last night and ended up staying up till sunrise watching as much as I can.
I just woke up and noticed you uploaded. Man,,,thank you so much
Wow, thanks so much for checking out my channel! Make sure you're getting enough sleep though. ;)
Hopefully when all these restrictions are over I'll head over to get shit faced in the spoons! Cool video mate, yt recommendations are working properly
Thanks! Yeah, this video seems to have spread wider than just fans of the game, to people who live (or used to live) in Newcastle! It's been great to read everyone's comments about the city.
As of July 2021 the Guildhall is now a Hard Rock Cafe, quite interesting considering the original use for the hall.
Have you gone there in person? Does everyone there talk endlessly about Driver?
I didn't click expecting a history lesson.
But I didn’t mind watching said history lesson!
I honestly wish if a proper Driver 1 and 2 remakes happened. I doubt people would be interested in that sadly.
There's a fan made version being made called Driver Syndicate ;) look it up it's pretty neat, but still a WIP
they will i guess, currently there isn't any getaway/chase related games available, correct me if I'm wrong. Shame on Ubisoft they discontinued series after well made San Francisco.
@@advsttsvda4935 they did unfortunately
I enjoyed the hell out of the Xbox 360 Driver game where you could possess the drivers in other cars.
It was a great game.
@@raudalhazazz i'm not counting mobile mess about boat racing, they just had to put any random name for this game, can't believe connecting this to Driver series was intentional
Fun fact, the Guild Hall now has a Hard Rock Cafe in. It opened in May 2021.
Its such a shame we didnt get a full game set in the uk especially the North East during the 70s. It needs to come back as I miss the Driver series
Im from newcastle and am a geordie so this is amazing to see, I never knew this game had anything to do with up here.
More landmarks include in Newcastle:
The Millenium Bridge
St. James' Park (Newcastle United FC Stadium)
The RVI Hospital
Newcastle University
The Spiral Carpark is a bit of a famous place in anither famous place the Haymarket
The Baltic Flower Mill (The Elevator is pretty rapid in there)
And many more this was just an FYI I love it when my local area and us Geordies get a nod or mentions 🙂
we need a new driver game with the whole of newcastle in it!
I mean samebi live in newcastle and we would sure be interested but the rest of the people whonplayvthevgame are from America or other foreign places and wouldn't be as interested
When I was a kid I used to imagine by 2021 we would all be playing an online game like this but different developers in different areas make their own map. So the game is basically a giant map of the world made by different people everywhere
@@Gaybraham.Lincoln oh in the game minecraft people are making a life-sized version of earth so you can visit every town and city in the world
There'll be newcastle
One of the coolest, if not the coolest secret level of all time...
I'm from Newcastle so this is really fascinating to me. Funny enough a friend of mine who is part of a group called the dust junkies done the theme music for this game too.
Dust Junkies; their song 'Fever' is also in Driver 2 during the first Vegas cutscene right?
My Australian Art teacher, her partner may be friend worked on this game she knew me and a few friend were into videogames so asked us for suggestions, my suggestion was The tyne bridge it ended up in the game.
4 of us received a collectors edition of the game.
Hi Miss Todaro *waves*
Brings back a lot of memories. I’ve never seen my hometown on a video game until now. Makes me wish that there were more games set in England as opposed to everything being set in America. Always annoys me when that happens
Give Test Drive 5 or Test Drive 6 a try as well - they both feature a racetrack around Newcastle. :)
@@MattJ155 I’ve played Test Drive Unlimited 1 and 2 on the Xbox/PC, but not those games - I’ll look after work tonight! Do you know where I can find a list of other games where you can drive around England? I know of Forza Horizon 4 (Ambleside isn’t true to life, I lived near there for a while), and BeamNG maybe has some mods that showcase the UK but I’m unsure
Damn, this is weird. I was born and lived in Newcastle my whole life but I never knew about this despite having Driver on the PS1 as a kid. Thanks for the video, appreciate it.
My condolences (for having to live there)
I wonder if also this map was a response to GTA's 1969 London game that came out around that era of the late 90's, and perhaps it being cut from the game was a move made because they didnt want to copy Take Two/Rockstar at the time (since back then being original with ideas for games was cool lol). Just speculating here
This also made me go to street view to see how the Test Drive 5 and 6 Newcastle Track compares to real life. I'd say it's not too shabby. Only inaccuracies are where the tunnel after the start line ends up, the major incline and decline, and the extra long length of the footpath section before the riverside straight
@@KemonoGamer75 Hehe, yup!
How the hell am I just learning about this now!?
3:23 is the sambucas 😂
The draw distance is better than it is in real life. P.s. this is amazing by the way, I am local to the town and this is really cool, I had no idea!
I had no idea this was in the original game - then again, I wasn't very good at Driver so never completed it! 😅
Only took 4 years since the original comment to make a video out of it! The Driver Madness forums are not very active these days so I guess you meant the Driver Discord instead.
The secret landmarks part is really well made however. #ReDriver
Pretty much every website related to the Driver game series is dead nowadays because it seems that there's no interest in making another game for the franchise.
@@pedinhuh16 The Driver Discord has 4000+ members and is very active!
@@VortexStory Can you shoot over a link?
I never knew this. So happy my home city is featured in a video game!
We need another game with Newcastle in it 👍
The number after the XJ doesn't have any bearing on the looks on these old jags really. It just refers to the engine. XJ6 straight 6, XJ8 V8 and XJ12 V12.
Great insight Matt. The handling of the cars in this game still haunt me!
Im living in Newcastle for a year now and randomly got reminded of this level :3
The new Hard Rock Café is just below the Tyne Bridge now next to the Swing Bridge
I use to talk to the reflection lads and ladies on my break I use to clean the building there were housed at good group of people.
Wow seems weird seeing my home town on this game. Thanks for sharing mate nice to see the Tyne Bridge 👍
Thanks, I'm glad you liked watching it!
Newcastle... The greatest city on earth
If you could go down the 'closed' street where The Cooperage is, you're only about 10 mins walk further along the quayside from the business park where the studio was.
I managed to do a couple of days beta testing with Reflections on Driver 4, it was a real treat getting to see 'behind the curtain' at such an iconic studio.
As someone who lives in Newcastle I'm surprised I didn't know about this
Okay... I'll subscribe. I went in four or five of those pubs when I lived in the Toon.
I know it can’t happen but the 80s and 90s are making a come back. Maybe Driver should get a reboot or a Remaster
It looks better in the video than real life the whole quayside under the Tyne bridge is covered in seagull shit 😂
Super nice video!! I think you're right with the Lotus Elan, but maybe it's the +2? It's longer than the original Elan, like the model in the game :O
Its such a secret i never even seen it before
I never knew about this. This is cool
You know what, I really wouldn’t mind a U.K. based gta game, set in the mid-late 80s. (Personally a very familiar era for me)
What about GTA London:1969?
The Getaway? sorta
I dont mind a satirical james bond plot, sounds really fun
Hillzy87 aeeehhhh
Charlie Foxtrot sorta, since the early 2000s UK might as well have still been the 80s.
The Getaway prototype ;)
@4:00 the white building with the Tudor style is an old pub called the cooperage. It's been closed for a few years now. Vic and Bob filmed their Geordie Jeans sketch in there.
Brilliant vid mate, I've often wondered about that end credits level nice one, subbed 👍
Thanks so much!
Great video dude, I've hit the like .
How long ago when you made Driver videos? Since the beta of Driver or Driv3r? You should do more Driver content like Secret & Beta Cars, Secret Roads, and missing & removable car colors from the PS2 console, maybe comparisons for all missions from different platforms.
From Newcastle here
Remember going with school to the studios when they was making the 3rd game what a cracking lot good to talk to
Me suddenly a Newcastle man seeing this video on my recommendation : 👁👄👁
Perhaps the government is tracking me
They did all that in a week? Fair play.
Ah my beloved toon is just as beautiful pixilated 😂
Learned a few things I didn't know and I'm a local too 😅 cooperage was the only place worth going in the late 00's
Very cool video, great work!
I'm a Newcastle lad and didn't even know this existed until now 🤣 this is quality 💯 I recognized loads of stuff whilst watching. I'm guessing one of those duplicate bridges may have been Scotswood Bridge, the 2 are very similar in appearance
Driver was a great game
Great video matt
You can play this level on driver 2 If you have two controllers. It's a Coop feature i thank
Omg…that really is the quayside! From newcastle here and I used to play this game as a kid, I never knew this!!
I worked at Offshore and had many a drunken night in Jimmy's
Love this game.
The open sewer is actually called Sunderland, bruh 😛
HAHA
i'm from newcastle and watching this there rn lol
Huh, the right lane driving in Newcastle? I was playing NFS Porsche Unleashed on the ePSXe a few months ago and two courses featured traffic driving on the left side. The game was built on the engine carried over from V-Rally 2, because the two were developed by Eden Studios. I didn't wonder how the guys managed to code one traffic path for Germany, France and USA and the other path for Scotland and Japan into the PS1. GTA 1 London expansion series have the same thing.
@@Dave_Albright You didn't need to lecture me.
I met Cheryl Cole in chase when she was first on pop idol and just remember how small she was
I lived there near Blaydon in a village called green side. Rockwood hill estate. That's mad flashbacks I reginise all the buildings aye fucking loved it
I've always thought this level was also something of a nod to the mighty Michael Caine (et al) film "Get Carter".
The first traffic car i think is a mixture between an AC 428 and a Jaguar XJ-S :)
ah i remember getting really drunk at the spoons just past the guild hall which is now a hard rock hotel cafe
This is fantastic. Thank you.
You're welcome!
I was todays years old when I learnd about the New Castle level.
Holy crap the bar my aunt and uncle used to own it and their house was in the building connected to it I remember staying there once when I was young maybe 6-7 but I could never remember where it was they only owned it for a few years and sold it so I only visited it once
Thanks for sharing! I love reading all these stories from people who had connections to the locations in the video.
Crazy that driver1 first gave us 5 cities, then driver2 gave us 4, ...
Driv3r Gave 3 cities, then Driver Parallel lines gave you 2 cities/era's.... And last of all Driver San Francisco gave us just 1 city... 5,4,3,2,1, Woop Woop🎉🎊🥳🙌...!!!
Have you ever seen the the mobile remake of Driver made by GAMELOFT, please make videos on that version
Maybe there is a London on the GAMELOFT Variant of Driver :-)
There's actually another bridge further down too
They did a good job on the big buildings
Jack Couvela there is obviously a parody of the character from Carmageddon (see his picture)..
Not many games with Newcastle in like if any but glad to see it at least one.
Hi Adam. Newcastle also features in Test Drive 5 and Test Drive 6, so you might want to check those out too!
They probably couldn't do this today because they'd need 12 different contracts of permission to feature the real city and real buildings.
More trouble than it's worth
Same with a reboot of the Getaway Games!
Ha! I used to work at Chase. Awesome as a gamer to see this
2nd traffic car is a Triumph Acclaim
Fantastic game subbed and superlike👍👍👍👍👍
Holy shit I never knew this! Amazing!
rip to all those that didn't make it past the "tutorial" level and get to see Newcastle
I live just 20 miles along the A69 from Newcastle, can confirm that after having 10 Stella's and 5 Newcastle brown ales, this is exactly what Newcastle looks like. Up the toon. Go magpies.
Is it just me, or does Stuart Dobbs (one of the devs) look like Chad Kroeger (singer of Nickelback)?
Love this Stuff :D
6:05 am Actually making a 3d Racing game and i do try to include personal unique stuff, i loved it in the older games where the developers etc had passion for the project and didnt do it youst for the money, Driver, Test Drive 4&5 etc had Personal stuff added :D
i have made several stuff as a Homage/Respect (i think its called).
VW Golf Mk3 vr6 `95mod based after Chris`s Beast that was in TestDrive 5,Bomber BFS NeedForSpeed2SE, AND now i have made the Suzuki Cultus GranTurisimo2, maby i do some thing for Driver too :D
Which bodykit does the "Chris beast" have? Kamei?
@@robertoshigeeda1944 am not sure, i think it`s basic Mk3 Golf, it might be some specific Boddy-Kit but am not sure :)
@@robertoshigeeda1944 i searched and it might actualy looks like a version of Kamei Front Fender hehe :D Thank you for the Tip :D
This game needs a reboot
Holy Hell. I'm from the north east. Had no idea this was in the game..😯
What is the cheat code for Newcastle for the PSX??? Is it the same kind of code like the others or is it something you have to basically hack the game???
Didn't know games had levels in chavland
Anyone else noticed that the join feature is gone?
The video made me want to watch Kitchen nightmares (Europe Edition)
damn nice
Where do we find the cheat so we can try it ourselves?
The Internet?
Credits quickly press l1, L2, r1, R2, l1, R1, R2, L2, R1, R2, l1, L2, R1. My a-z cheatbook from 2002. It doesn't have the code to drive in Newcastle though
how is opin new castle city on ps 1 pleas
Class 👍