Summary
Mike Pondsmith’sCyberpunkuniverse is steeped in rich lore across both its tabletop RPGs and CD Projekt Red’s acclaimed video gameCyberpunk 2077.Therefore, it’s extremely easy for players to find themselves spending hundreds of hours digging into the history of the world and the backstories behind their favorite characters, should they wish, with some surprising outcomes.
One such character who has been extremely prominent - particularly inCyberpunk 2077where he is one of the game’s main characters - is the rockerboy Johnny Silverhand. Silverhand died long before the events of the game take place, but by appearing as an engram on a Relic prototype embedded in protagonist V’s head, players get to learn more about the character, with some flashback sequences being told from his perspective.
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Johnny Silverhand’s Porsche Seems To Go Against His Anti-Capitalist Views
His Car Is “King Among 1% Wannabes”
From spending even a few minutes with Johnny Silverhand, it is extremely clear thatthe Rockerboy’s main schtick is about protesting the various megacorps around the city- Arasaka in particular, with him even launching a full-scale attack on the company’s base of operations in Night City - and he rarely misses an opportunity to preach his anti-capitalist views. For those unfamiliar with the tabletop RPGs that preceded CDPR’s game, this makes it all the more surprising duringCyberpunk 2077’sChippin' Inquest when players discover the kind of car Silverhand owned.
After defeating Adam Smasher’s associate and Arasaka mercenary Jeremiah Grayson inChippin' In, players have the option to either execute or spare him. If they choose the former, they will be able to loot his body and find the keys to Johnny’s car. Alternatively, if they spare him, he will hand them over willingly. Upon accessing the corresponding shipping container, it is revealed thatSilverhand’s car is anearly priceless Porsche 911 Turbo (930) from 1977.
With Silverhand’s Porsche being 100 years old inCyberpunk 2077, it is the oldest car in the game.
Owning such a vehicle seems like a major contradiction to Silverhand’s anti-capitalist philosophy, which he had been extremely vocal about until this point, even moreso whenthe game’s database entry refers to the Porsche as “An all-time classic and king among 1% wannabes,” and “one of the most iconic cars in automotive history,“before reiterating how rare they are, stating that the few that remain are “worth their weight in gold.” However, there’s far more to the car’s history with Johnny Silverhand than first meets the eye.
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The Way Johnny Acquired His Porsche Is Far More In Keeping With His Character
The Car Would Go On To Be Personal To The Samurai Frontman
Replying to a long-since deleted post on Reddit,Mike Pondsmithprovided some insight into the history of Johnny’s Porsche, explaining thatJohnny’s initial acquisition of the car would have been explained in a story for the tabletop gameCyberpunk 2020called “The Punk and the Parking Space,“which would have set up its first appearance in theNever Fade Awayadventure, but this was never published. This story would have explained thatthe Porsche was originally owned by Toshiro Harada, an Arasaka executive who Johnny had a dispute with over a parking spot, with Johnny ending up shooting out its tires in a way to stick it to the corpo.
A few years later, Johnny stole that same car, eventually deciding to keep it. He would go on to tune the vehicle and customize it to represent his own tastes over time while also integrating more modern technology, such as LiDAR for self-driving capabilities, cameras instead of mirrors, self-changing transmission, various drive modes - which CDPR lifted from current-day Porsche models -, and the ability to run on biofuel, which is likely what led to it still being drivable 100 years after it was first manufactured.
AsToshiro was the one who captured Alt Cunningham in an attempt to get her to recreate the Soulkiller program within the Arasaka mainframe- something that later led to her becoming the program’s first victim and existing only as a digital ghost in the Net after Johnny’s failed rescue attempt - the Porsche 911 Turbo (930) ended up being something extremely personal for Johnny.
While Pondsmith’s “The Punk and the Parking Space” was never published, it would have been a great explanation for what is otherwise a slightly jarring character choice for Silverhand, but the fact that the creator has spoken openly about this backstory means that it is almost certainly canonical in theCyberpunkuniverse, even if it’s a shame CD Projekt Red didn’t take the opportunity to add this piece of lore toCyberpunk 2077in one of the game’s post-launch patches when it also added thecabriolet version of the vehicle and a missioninvolving a fan who modified himself to resemble the Samurai frontman.
Source:Mike Pondsmith/Reddit
Cyberpunk 2077
Based on the 1988 tabletop game, Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person action RPG game set in a dystopian cyber future developed by CD Projekt Red. Players will tackle the streets of Night City as customizable protagonist V, who struggles to keep their memories intact after receiving a strange cybernetic implant that slowly overrides their memories by a deceased celebrity known as Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves.
