FAST_RIDES
_ Paweł Mielniczuk explains how vehicles have evolved in Night City’s cyberpunk world
Cyberpunk 2077 might be set in the far future, but the tabletop RPG it’s based on is firmly a product of 1980s futurism, and that’s never more obvious than when it comes to the types of vehicles on display in the streets.
“The majority of the car design is based and inspired by ’90s and ’80s designers like Marcello Gandini, the guy that made the [Lamborghini] Countach, and De Tomaso Pantera, or Alfa Romeo Carabo – those cars are just pure cyberpunk,” says Mielniczuk. It’s those sharp angles. “We’re not looking for concept cars from modern times because they have too complex forms, they’re organic, they’re just… We looked at the blocky, heavier-looking shapes that were in in the ’90s and ’80s.”
For a lot of the team, switching from The Witcher 3 to designing high-tech cars took a bit of time, so every design had to be carefully plotted before development, based on where it would appear in the game. “We divided time that we have by calculating how many cars we can actually execute, and distributed them in this table of poverty – you know, how many poor cars do we need to do, how many middle-class, and how many high-class?” says Mielniczuk. It’s loosely based on the real world, with an acknowledgement that the class divide in Night City is even more extreme.
Once those base models were completed, they then iterated on alternate designs from those cars and manufacturers. “Superexpensive cars, they have only different colours because they are super-expensive,” says Mielniczuk. You won’t find any rusted-out versions of the luxury Rayfield Aerondight (the car you try to jack in the Street Kid opening of the game), but you’ll be able to find factory versions, sporty versions, and even what the team call “junk set” versions (aged rides retro-fitted with tech like solar panels) of the more common vehicles. These can sport things like bigger tyres or different windshields that affect ec how they are to handle, so o there will be a lot to drive (and steal, l, should you have high enough stats). ts).
“THERE WILL BE A LOT TO DRIVE (AND STEAL, IF YOU’RE ABLE).”