Hypercars in London and Manchester taxi ranks: The Crew Motorfest must be out, then

Imagine ordering an Uber and some maniac in a McLaren Senna turning up - a highly improbable and impractical scenario, but one that nonetheless took place in UK cities this week to promote the launch of The Crew Motorfest, Ubisoft Ivory Tower’s latest open world racing series set this time in Hawaii.

With the greatest respect to the Toyota Prius, your heart hardly skips a beat when your Uber driver rolls silently up to your pick-up location in one. You’re going to be comfortable. You’re going to get there. But you’re not going to be thrilled.

Ubisoft’s fleet of ‘Crew Cabs’, though, did not conform to time-honoured lift-giving tradition. Members of the public in London and Manchester could order a ride in vehicles including the aforementioned Senna, a Bentley Continental GT, a Porsche 911 and a Chevrolet Corvette.

Presumably they weren’t on their way to the airport with luggage to check in. The Senna’s got many strengths, including a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine putting out 800bhp, but boot space is not one of them. There’s room for a couple of crash helmets and nothing more.

Still, definitely an opportunity to amass some cool points down at Waitrose car park when you step out of one. Who’s smug about having nabbed the last Duchy Originals duck eggs now?

If you feel like driving a Lamborghini Revuelto on a volcano sightseeing tour, Motorfest has a free trial running until 17 September. Play anything you like from the full game within a five-hour time limit.