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Driver TV series: Ubisoft's tire-screeching games race to new streaming service

The fast-paced Driver series of games is being turned into a live-action TV show for gaming video service Binge.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
Driver San Francisco Ubisoft game

Driver is racing onto TV screens. 

Ubisoft

The Driver video game has always been pretty closely tied to movies. The original was essentially a gamified version of tire-screeching flicks like The Driver, and it had a special "director" mode for cutting mini-movies of your most outrageous stunt driving. So when you hear there's a live-action version of Driver in the works, the only question is what took so long?

Game studio Ubisoft, the company behind Far Cry, Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six, announced a live-action TV show based on the wheel-spinning game. It's set to appear on forthcoming gaming-themed streaming service Binge. No relation to the Australian streaming service of the same name, the new video site was announced during this year's E3 and is scheduled to launch in 2022.

A movie adaptation of the game has been in the works since 2002, with the likes of Paul W. S. Anderson and Roger Avary developing different versions. So we'll believe it when we see it, but with a streaming service attached, this seems like it could actually happen.

The first Driver game launched for the PlayStation in June 1999 and saw players burn up the streets of Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York as cop-turned-getaway driver John Tanner. It was followed by two direct sequels, plus Driver: Parallel Lines, retro Driver 76, 2011 console game Driver: San FranciscoDriver: Renegade 3D for the 3DS and Driver Speedboat Paradise for iOS and Android.

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