According to the Developers of Metropolis Street Racer, to record the audio for the cars, they rented a Mercedes SLK. They tested the car on a test track with microphones attached to the car, recording the sound of each gear until, unexpectedly, the engine blew.

They had to tow the car to a country lane where they could call the AA. They fixed the engine and returned the car but unfortunately, the hire company saw the SLK's engine management report and billed Sega thousands for a replacement engine.

Metropolis Street Racer had an extremely rocky development cycle. Multiple delays of the game pushed its European release date from late 1999 to late 2000, and the Japanese release was cancelled entirely.

After its release in Europe, various bugs in the game resulted in a recall, with Sega issuing replacement discs. The re-issued European version became the US release.

On rare occasions, a hidden song will play on the post race screen. Game composer Richard Jacques originally wrote the untitled track for the credits, but when it was not used it was made into a hidden track.