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New York City is the main setting of Driver Parallel Lines.
Overview[]
The entire map of New York and New Jersey.
New York is the largest city in the United States of America, and is a very populous, metropolitan area. The game's rendition of the city features the main city of New York, its boroughs, and surrounding scenery. New York is situated on the east coast of America, and sits in the New York Bay.
The game rendition of New York restricts the area from exiting the surrounding areas of the city, thus background buildings, trees or land is purely scenery and is not solid; these areas of the state cannot be reached without the use of modifications.
New York's appearance changes over the course of the two eras. In the 1978 era in particular, the city has a notably "warm" atmosphere, with an orange/sepia tone to the sunsets in New York. The skyline alters slightly, and the vehicles, people and ambiance dramatically differ.
Boroughs[]
New York is split up into several boroughs, which are marked on the map. The boroughs vary in size, population density, purpose and culture.
Manhattan[]
Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York, and is home to thousands of high rise apartments, offices and businesses. It is situated between the Hudson River and East River, and has connections with all other boroughs with tunnels and bridges.
Manhattan is known for its bright lights, dense traffic and iconic skyline. In the game, the city doesn't accurately replicate the grid road system that Manhattan features in real life, however it reproduces many iconic landmarks and locations of the borough, including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Times Square, Flat Iron Building and Central Park. It is also very busy and features wide roads, large intersections and high rise skyscrapers.
The borough is particularly prominent in the story line, where the majority of the second half of the 1978 era takes place in and around Manhattan, notably the missions Kidnap and Ransom. Manhattan is also home to numerous minigames, including 2 Taxi Driver missions, 2 Loan Sharks and 1 Street Race. Chelsea, a district of Manhattan, is also home to one of the game's Grand Prix events.
The Bronx[]
Bronx, or The Bronx, is the smallest of boroughs in New York, and is one of the least populous. It is home to the small neighborhood and industrial zone of Hunts Point, which is a key area of the story line. The Bronx is the first neighborhood where TK settles, and where he lives for the first few missions of the 1978 era. The borough is also prominent for it is the home of the game's interpretation of the Yankee Stadium, which is used in the 1978 era for Demolition Survival mini-games.
In terms of landscape, Bronx seems to be the highest borough in the game, as the player is able to see a large amount of the rest of the New York skyline. It also has connections with Harlem in Manhattan and Englewood in New Jersey, which are the highest points of the entire city. Several small road-arch bridges connect across the Harlem River to Harlem, and the large suspension bridge George Washington Bridge provides a major connection with New Jersey.
Queens[]
Queens is the largest borough of New York, and is provides hundreds of acres of land for businesses and housing in particular. It is home to some of the largest parks in the game, specifically the Flushing Meadows Corona Park, which, in-game, is situated just south of the Shea Stadium - one of the boroughs well-known stadiums.
Brooklyn[]
Brooklyn is a large borough known to be the industrial zone of New York. As well as being home to the largest port within the map, featuring factories, ships and dock cranes, it is also known for its popular tourist attraction, that is, Coney Island. Within Coney Island is the Coney Island Beach and the Beach Front Theme Park, all densely popular in the 1978 era. Brooklyn is the site of important roles in the storyline, notably the return of TK and his hunt for The Mexican.
Transport[]
A road map of New York, with red indicating public roads, orange indicating circuits, and blue indicating the city train line.
New York has a small transport network in the game rendition. It features a train line running through Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn during the 1978 era. It also operates New York City Taxis across the city, and buses can occasionally be seen, especially in Manhattan and Queens.
Bridges[]
The game features the majority of the well-known bridges location within New York, including:
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Manhattan Bridge
- Williamsburg Bridge
- Queensboro Bridge
- Triborough Bridge (only partial resemblance)
- George Washington Bridge
A bridge for the L-Train is also seen crossing the unreachable Roosevelt Island parallel to the Queensboro Bridge.
Tunnels[]
As with bridges, numerous tunnels are included:
- Lincoln Tunnel
- Holland Tunnel
- Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel
- New Jersey Tunnel (doesn't appear to resemble any real-life tunnel)
Major Roads[]
New York includes various major streets and roads in the game, notably:
- Broadway & 7th Avenue
- FDR Drive
- 12th Avenue & Henry Hudson Parkway
- Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
- Bruckner Expressway
- Harlem River Drive
- Grand Central Parkway
