Cyberpunk 2077: Why Does Night City Have Almost No Parking?

It all started with a simple Reddit post. A user named Double_School5149 made a joking observation that unexpectedly went viral : “Clearly Night City was designed by Europeans because there are almost no parking spaces…” More than 3,000 upvotes later, the comment became an urban snapshot of the Cyberpunk 2077 universe .

And for many US gamers, accustomed to cities where cars dominate the landscape, the lack of parking in Night City is shocking . In their words: "Most of the time I end up parking right on the curve, knocking down rails to make room." For them, this detail is yet another clue that the city was designed with a non-American logic.

Behind the joke lies a deep cultural truth: Night City, though set in a fictional California territory, doesn't conform to typical American urban planning . According to the comments in the thread, this makes sense considering that CD Projekt RED is a European studio and the game aims to remain faithful to the lore of the original tabletop title, Cyberpunk 2013 , and Cyberpunk 2020 .

Indeed, one of the most highly rated comments sums it up this way: "Another thing that tells you the game is made by Poles is that there's a robust public transportation system and the city is very walkable."

The city isn't just a futuristic setting. In the origins of the role-playing game created by Mike Pondsmith in 1988, Night City was a mix of technological dreams, libertarian utopia, and urban decay . According to the lore , Richard Night—the architect of this fictional city—wanted to expel organized crime and build an ideal metropolis. But the plan failed.

From that point on, chaos took over the streets . Corporations, mafias, and gangs took over the urban areas, which could also explain the lack of importance given to something as basic as parking. Because Night City isn't realistic; it's symbolic .

While it may seem like a technical omission, the lack of car spaces in the game is also a result of creative decisions . CD Projekt RED could have prioritized mission design, vertical environments, NPC interactions, and mobility focused on the player and their experience , rather than an exact simulation of road infrastructure. The result is a living, complex city that, as we now know, is debatable down to its most urban details .