"You got thirty more years in here. I'm asking thrity million. It's not a hard choice."
- Jericho to Rufus
The Prologue in Driver: San Francisco consists of Jericho being arrested but escapes. It also introduces the ability to shift to different cars.
Plot
The game opens with KEOC News reporter Jessica Adams talking about Charles Jericho, and how he faces sentencing later that day. She mentions that "an as-yet unnamed police officer was instrumental in Jericho's arrest", who is none-other than John Tanner.
Back at the prison, Jericho and Rufus are setting their agreement straight. Everything is straight, "except the price", as Jericho claims. Rufus says they agreed on $20 million, but Jericho doesn't want to hear it. Rufus offers $25 million, but Jericho has this to say:
"I'll let you know what the touch of a woman feels like[...]I'm asking thirty. You got thirty more years in here. I'm asking $30 million. It's not a hard choice."
Rufus says "Fine", and the agreement is settled.
While Jericho is being transported to the courthouse in a prison van, Tanner and Jones overlook the convoy from a freeway on-ramp in Tanner's 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. Up in the sky is the KEOC News Chopper, reporting live on the convoy. Leila Sharan, a trained assassin, has infiltrated KEOC up until this point, where it all comes down to these final moments. From behind, she cuts the rope to the cameraman filming the convoy, effectively sending him to his untimely death. She pulls out a gun and tells the pilot "Just keep us right where we are".
Armed with an RPG, Leila blows up a cop car involved in the convoy, triggering a domino effect - the cop car behind it crashes into the flaming wreckage, happening so quickly that the prison van has no choice but to smash through. Seeing these events unfold, Tanner puts the pedal to the metal in an attempt to locate the prison van.
With Leila's part completed, Jericho uses the smuggled acid to melt his handcuffs. One officer sees this, and attempts to restrain him, but it's too late as the chains separate and Jericho overpowers him. The only remaining cop car in the convoy attempts communication with the prison van, but when no response is heard back, they pull up along side the prison van, only to see that Jericho has now hijacked the prison van. Jericho smashes into the cop car, flipping it over onto its roof.
Now caught up with the prison van, Tanner requests backup and pursues Jericho. The prison van takes a few sharp turns into a large complex, with the prison van now out of sight. Tanner pulls into the complex and heads towards an alley in the back, but the prison van is nowhere to be seen.
Caught off guard, Jericho smashes into the back of Tanner's car, and continues to ram it as Tanner tries to escape in the extremely narrow alley. When they reach the end of the alley, Tanner's car comes to a halt on the opposite side of the street. Unable to stop in time, a semi truck swerves out of the way of traffic and directly into the driver's side door of the now-wrecked Dodge Challenger. Tanner is put into a coma as a result of his injuries.
Coma
The coma starts with Tanner waking up suddenly in his car. He tells Jones that he saw where Jericho went. Before leaving, he notices a billboard that says "WAKE UP". Tanner leaves for Jericho.
As they saw the prison van, it explodes, and they say that Jericho's gone. Then, his head aches, forcing him to shift to Ray, an ambulance driver. He was shocked that he is in the ambulance rather in his Dodge. Ricky, the passenger, says to drive faster because the patient has a head trauma. He drives to St. Giles Hospital and his soul flies. Then he sees a billboard again, saying, "DO IT AGAIN". Then, he sees his Dodge and heads to it. Then, Jones says that the chop shop is the lead where Jericho is. After that, another billboard was spotted, saying, "DO IT, TANNER".
He did the ability, but he is now in mid-air. He shifts to different civilian cars and a taxi, until he gets the hang of shifting. He sees a nice sports car and shifts into it. After he shifts and did what the passenger needs, he got infuriated. His body and car is nowhere. As he finds the car, he can't enter. Then, he hears voices from a cop car and sees a billboard saying, "HELP THEM". He shifts into the cop car and wrecks the getaway.
Walkthrough
Drive to the yellow ribbons marked as checkpoints to get to the freeway on-ramp. After the scenes of Jericho escaping, chase the prison van, but be careful, as Jericho will drive to intersections to shake you off. As he enters the alley, drive to the yellow ribbon. When Jericho is on the back and rams you, keep driving until another scene appears.
After Tanner is waken up by Jones, drive to the red arrow, and it will later turn into a yellow ribbon. Drive into it until you see the prison van. After that, Tanner will shift to the ambulance and tells him to drive to the hospital. Heart rate is the most important in this part, it must be 20 BPM. Avoid damage as possible in order to prevent slowing down.
Afterwards, drive to the chop shop. Then, you will be instructed to shift into different civilian cars (of your choice). Then, shift into a taxi, which is marked on the map. Then, a sports car appears, which is needed to shift.
Follow the instructions as you drive the sports car. First, overtake 10 vehicles, second, jump 10 m from the blue zone indicated, and finally, head for the office. In the final one, you need to follow a series of checkpoints, a few have curves. After that, the mission ends.
Next, shift to the Dodge Challenger, marked with a T. Then, a cutscene will appear, which will need a shift. Shift into the cop car, marked by a star.
Finally, wreck the getaway, and the mission ends.