In the game, the player controls a former racecar driver turned undercover police detective named John Tanner. It featured a storyline inspired by 1960's/70's car chase movies such as Bullitt (1968) and The Driver (1978) and based in four real-life cities; Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. It was the best selling game of the Driver series and an evolution of the freedom to explore a city as brought forth in the early Grand Theft Auto games.