This racing game looked like it was directed by Ridley Scott circa 1982

You have to feel for the developers of sci-fi racing game Motorhead. They clearly tried very hard back in the late 1990s to conjure the most bleak, dystopian future they could imagine. The game is grim, gloomy and industrial, the sort of motor racing that Harrison Ford’s character in Blade Runner would watch to unwind after blowing the head off a replicant.

Little did those developers know that here in the actual 21st century Motorhead would end up as a hopeful vision of a future where the combustion engine remains relevant.

Whatever, Motorhead’s sci-fi aesthetic was the most striking thing about it. This really did look like racing as directed by Ridley Scott circa 1982. The tracks swooped past imposing concrete buildings, streetlights struggled to cut through the ambient smog and you’d hear thumping music as you whipped by a neon soaked nightclub. The only thing missing was a noodle bar.

But where its more famous stablemate Wipeout eschewed wheels entirely, Motorhead boasted sim-inspired driving physics. Mastering that handling was vital, because the game had exacting difficulty and one small error would usually be enough to cost you the race. Still, at least you didn’t have to worry about a homing missile up the exhaust pipe.

In an interesting technical quirk, the game offered the option to increase the fluidity of the graphics at the cost of having fewer opponents. It was a neat party trick, but the game played so brilliantly at the lower frame rate, it was best used as a way to impress your mates.

And to address the elephant in the room, the soundtrack was all trance and electronica rather than a throat shredding performance by Lemmy and co. That’s got to have confused at least one 1990s heavy metal fan back in the day...