The world is divided up into two types of people: those who have beaten Driver on PS1, and the rest who never got past its absurdly difficult tutorial. Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time F1 Championship winner, is one of the many who couldn't. In a new video uploaded to the Mercedes-AMG F1 YouTube channel, the professional racer is videod playing PS1 classics from his childhood.
Before getting on to other driving hits like F1 2000 and Gran Turismo, Hamilton takes a few casual attempts at arguably the toughest tutorial in video game history. First, he wrecks the car, then he runs out of time. "Damn it, I can't get past this first stage," he adds. During the video, Hamilton explains he was gifted a PS1 at Christmas from his parents, but he wanted a new racing helmet, so they took the Sony system back. Considering the career he's had since, that was probably a smart move.
In the decades since its release, Driver on PS1 has gained notoriety based on its incredibly difficult tutorial. You're sent to an underground parking lot and ordered to demonstrate a series of driving skills and moves within 90 seconds, like a burnout, 360-degree turn, a 180-degree reverse turn, and perform brake tests and a lap of the area. You were allowed three strikes inside the time limit until you were out and had to try the whole thing over again. Since the introduction couldn't be skipped, you were essentially stuck there forever if you couldn't beat it
Is there actually a game after that brutal tutorial? Who really knows? Do you now have a new claim to fame in that you're better at Driver than Lewis Hamilton? Show off your handbrake turn in the comments below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 28
I'm able to complete it! Does that mean that I'm a better racer than Hamilton? That's what it means, right? Right?!
Getting the driver licence in Driver is harder than Bloodborne.
As a kid I never found the Driver tutorial that difficult, but I have to admit it was badly designed with no clear definition of what was required to fulfil the checklist. I later found out that many didn't understand what "slalom" meant and was the main cause for failing.
I never had a problem with it. I only learned it was hard from Youtube about 15 years later.
I did it at the time, even finished the game. But this intro is really too hard, a great mistake from the developers.
Weirdly I must have been a better gamer than I thought, as I remember Driver being a pain sometimes but I got past the tutorial easily enough.
Think part of it though is as a kid spending that much on a game you were determined to get past it - and you had the time to get better (plus I loved driving games in general, TOCA was my favourite).
Nowadays I'm on easy mode and quit games that annoy me - I don't get much time to game and I want to de-stress not get more annoyed lol.
But I remember Driver really being worth it - I was staggered what they achieved on PS1 given we had to wait till the PS2 for GTA3
@Pat_trick Well... yes. Kind of. F1 racing is a completely different skill to gaming.
I remember an episode of Top Gear where the lads compared Laguna Seca on Gran Turismo 3 to the real thing and it really does not prepare you.
@Pat_trick of cause.
I had the game. Can't remember the tutorial being that tough to be honest. But I was a demon when it comes to driving games on ps1.
I remember finishing the game back in the day, so I assume I beat the tutorial. I tried it more recently, to see if the game held up to modern standards, and I never got halfway through the tutorial before giving up in frustration.
Some memories are better left in the past! Also, there were less games to play back then, so you were more likely to persist with difficult challenges. I remember passing the controller between me and my uncle, determined for one of us to beat some of the later missions in the game.
Ain’t nobody got the patience for that these days, with so many other options of what you could be playing. I can’t decide whether that’s a good thing or not! Nostalgia is weird 🤔
It's a bit tricky, but it's no more difficult than the first hour of a soulsbourne game, easier then an old school Megaman
Give me a controller, that level is burned into my thumbs. Finished so many times.
Tried it a few times but could never get past the tutorial. Then again, I don’t have the nostalgia for it.
Brutal? It's not even difficult, I tried it for the first time in 20 years a few weeks ago and it took me less than 5 minutes to do
@Widey85 I think it's just a modern trend of pretending some games are way harder than they actually are, same happened with the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time
Yeah I beat it and I beat for a few others too, not that I am great at gaming but I am a petrol head so perhaps that helps as the checklist made perfect sense to me. It was almost 25 years ago so no doubt if I tried it now as an old man I would find it tougher or maybe not who knows!!!
I don't remember it being a problem. Never finished it though, made it to the final mission and found that a pain so gave up.
So many games finished for me before they started. From the bottom of my heart I hate unskipable or forced tutorials. A very few games made it to please me with tutorial longer than game itself...
I remember back then that it gave me a little trouble and slalom gave me trouble due to my age. Luckily, many games experimented in different types of games and I remember playing an Olympics game that had that word in it and I remember thinking that’s where you have to ski down between flags and maybe that means drive between the poles in this game. Luckily, I was right.
I ended up loving the game But the final mission was insanely difficult As well. I remember trying to beat it for a few hours. I was very angry and went to bed and when I got up the next morning I beat it on my first try. It was crazy.
Forget the first level how did anyone beat the presidents run without glitching the game.
That game made a big impression on my younger self. To this day, if I see cardboard boxes while I'm behind the wheel, I aim for them. Amazon drivers hate me
I remember Driver 2 had a glitch where if you progressed to disc 2 but then shut off the PS1 on restart it would say "hey you're playing Driver 2 please insert disc 1". So you'd have to swap discs and it it'd say "hey you're playing Driver 2 please insert disc 2".... EVERY TIME. Annoying as hell
Played this when I was 12 and managed to complete the game. It was certainly a tricky game but I never found it too hard.
Pah amateur! Lol
@IndoorEnthusiast That last mission seemed literally impossible: between the car's sluggish handling, the weather conditions, police cars spawning in at every intersection, and the length of the mission, it's like it was tailored to be as awful as possible. (I was also playing on a pretty bad TV, which can't have helped.)
I'm guessing you also beat it by driving in the void outside the walls?
I tried to pass the mission fully legitimately, but after the cops pushed me through the wall for the second or third time, I just headed for the goal and never looked back!
@smoreon I used the bridge glitch, I wish I knew about the wall void glitch because it looks a lot easier to setup than the bridge glitch which took me a hour worth of attempts to pull off.
@IndoorEnthusiast Yeah, the glitch I encountered kept happening by accident! I didn't know there was another way.
Oh, well, an hour's worth of attempts is still a decent amount of time saved, considering the alternative of not using the glitch! 😅
There are three kinds of people, with the third group being those like me who did beat the tutorial, but lost interest in finishing the game. I do remember the tutorial being frustrating. I probably did seek a bit of guidance online. I was also determined to beat the tutorial since there was no returning the game at that point. It was definitely tricky and annoying, but it seems the difficulty is overstated. It reminds me of the NES Turtles game and the swimming level defusing the bombs. I never had a problem with that, but so many people did.
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