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[Zazabar]

I always thought it was supposed to be somewhat modern, but a lot of the cars in the game look pretty older. Like some 1970's muscle cars.

[Fireboyd78]

Martin Edmondson has mentioned before that the Driver games take place in contemporary times with classic cars. Kind of hard to believe if you ask me.

[max.thunder]

Driv3r probably is set in 2003 because of some Nokia 3200 ads, that mobile phone was released in 2003.


You can also see it in several cutscenes

Cutscene
Cutscene 2

[RacingFreak]

I really doubt Driv3r is set in 2003, more like late 90's, however it's quite a mess with the vehicle choice.

[Coyote]

It played in the present. It's not just the Nokia phone, it's also the other phones and chips, and computers and stuff like this. If Martin said it himself, then I don't know what's hard to believe here

But yes — the cars are definitely mainly from the 1970s to the 1990s. But for me personally it never felt as if it played in the 70s, or 80s, or 90s. I always had the feeling this is happening today.

Oh, and there was also some containers with "2003" written on them. Not sure if this is a hint or something, but it might just be.

[RacingFreak]

Hmm guess its set in modern times then, well maybe if they used more modern copcars (like late 90's Crown Vic), then it will be really obvious its modern times

[k9Underdogg]

Maybe Tanner is such a big fan of old cars that he only "sees" old cars It's definitely set in 2003 but with some elements to get an 80s or 70s feeling, like the old cars and the music (I haven't played it a lot but I remember that mission in the Hotel in Miami near the beginning that had some awesome Miami Vice -ish music in the background). Or like someone said on another forum, it could be "a made up time period".
The movie Deathproof had something similar, the characters listened to old music and dressed like the 70s but they used cellphones and you could see modern cars on the street it still looked like a 70s B-Movie, at least the first half of it.