It should be easy, they only need to match the car handling and set it in San Franciso, because that was all the original had going for it. I actually prefer the Driver series to GTA, simply because the focus is on the vehicles rather than the story and characters. I didn't care why I had to drive from one point to the next with the police chasing me, I just bloody loved going sideways round corners and smashing through cardboard box littered alleyways. Then after the mission was over you could go and create a short movie of the whole thing and show your mates how awesome you are. 
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