The original first Mafia, as far as I know, is the first and also the only GTA-style game with strict road rules and realistic manual gearbox behavior (you could switch to neutral and roll downhill).

There is probably a shared reason why Mafia and proper flight sims (I fly Cessna in X-Plane) are appealing to me; to an outsider either one is like watching paint dry though.

I remember Driver on the original PlayStation. Cops would pull you over if you went too fast, but the gas button was digital, so there was no way to constantly drive at the speed limit. Very annoying.

In original Mafia cars behave quite appropriately given time period, so they accelerate slowly. You can also switch to a high gear to drop acceleration further.

They are preparing original Mafia remake to release this fall, which I’m extremely stoked but also slightly cautious about. The update seems to be mostly concerning graphics and I really hope they leave car handling alone.

In think it was Mafia 2. Great game.