Look, the first time you walk into the Afterlife and meet Claire Russell, you probably just think she’s the coolest bartender in Night City. She’s got that calm, no-nonsense energy that makes you feel like maybe the city won't chew you up today. But once you start the Beast in Me Cyberpunk questline, everything changes. This isn't just about street racing or getting a free truck. It’s a messy, emotionally charged dive into grief, revenge, and whether V is just a hired gun or someone who actually gives a damn about their friends.
Street racing in Night City is usually about the eddies and the chrome. Most fixers just want you to go fast and stay alive. Claire? She’s got a different agenda. She pulls you into a series of races across Watson, Santa Domingo, and the Badlands, but the racing is almost secondary to the heavy conversations you have while leaning against her massive truck, "Mackinaw Beast." It’s one of those rare moments where Cyberpunk 2077 slows down enough to let you breathe, even if that breath is full of exhaust fumes and desert dust.
The Reality of the Beast in Me Cyberpunk Races
You aren't just driving. You're a "shooter." In the world of Night City racing, the driver handles the wheel and the passenger handles the lead. It’s chaotic. If you’ve played other racing games, this will feel loose and arguably a bit janky, but that’s sort of the point. It’s meant to be dirty.
Claire tells you she wants to win the Great Race. She talks about her late husband, Dean, and how they used to be a legendary team. But as you progress through the qualifiers—City Center, Badlands, North Oak—the mask starts to slip. You realize pretty quickly that Claire doesn't care about the trophy. She’s hunting Peter Sampson.
Why Choice Matters in This Quest
Most players mess this up. They think they can just follow the quest markers and everything will turn out fine. It won't. If you want the "best" outcome—where you get both cars and don't leave Claire a hollowed-out shell of a person—you have to pay attention to the dialogue choices long before the final race.
Specifically, after the Santa Domingo race, Claire opens up about Dean’s death. This is the pivot point. If you just agree to help her "finish the job," you're locking yourself into a darker path. To get the more nuanced ending, you have to challenge her. You have to tell her that your priority is winning the race, or at least voice your hesitation about a cold-blooded execution. It feels counter-intuitive because usually, being a "good friend" in RPGs means blindly supporting their worst impulses. Not here. CD Projekt Red built this to reward those who actually listen to the inconsistencies in her story.
Decoding the Peter Sampson Conflict
Is Sampson actually a villain? That’s the big question hanging over the Beast in Me Cyberpunk mission. Claire paints him as a murderer who targeted Dean. Sampson, if you give him a chance to speak during the finale, tells a much different story. He claims it was a racing accident. He claims Dean was the one driving aggressively.
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Honestly? The evidence leans toward Sampson being right. If you look at the footage or just listen to how racing works in this universe, everyone knows the risks. Dean died in a high-stakes illegal street race. Claire’s grief has twisted that reality into a narrative of premeditated murder because it’s easier to hate a person than it is to hate the cruel randomness of Night City.
The Final Race: The Big Split
When you hit the final race, you’ll reach a point where Sampson veers off the track because his car is failing. You have a choice:
- Finish the race. You win. You get the prize money. Claire is absolutely furious with you. She stays at the Afterlife, but your friendship is effectively dead. You don't get Sampson’s car, the Cthulhu.
- Follow Sampson. You ditch the race to chase him down. This leads to a car wreck under an overpass. This is where your previous dialogue choices come home to roost.
If you didn't try to talk Claire down earlier, she will kill him. No matter what you say at the wreck, she pulls the trigger. But, if you spent the earlier missions telling her that you want to win the race or that revenge isn't the answer, you get a special dialogue option. You can actually convince her to let him live.
The Loot: Beast vs. Cthulhu
Let’s talk about the gear because, let’s face it, we all want the toys.
The Mackinaw "Beast" is a monster. It’s one of the best off-road vehicles in the game. It handles like a tank but has surprising speed. Claire gives this to you regardless of how the quest ends, as long as you finish the storyline. It’s a permanent fixture in your garage and great for navigating the rough terrain outside the city limits.
The Quadra Type-66 "Cthulhu" is a different beast entirely. It’s sleek, it’s fast, and it looks like something a futuristic Batman would drive.
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- If Sampson lives: He emails you a few days later and gives you the car for free as a thank-you for saving his life.
- If Sampson dies: You can still get the car, but you have to buy it from a fixer for a hefty chunk of change (usually around 76,000 eddies depending on your game version and patches).
Saving the guy is objectively the better "meta" move. You get the friendship, you get the moral high ground, and you save a ton of money.
A Critical Look at Claire's Writing
There’s a lot of discussion in the community about Claire Russell. She is one of the most prominent trans characters in modern gaming, and her identity is handled with a refreshing lack of fanfare. It’s just a part of who she is—symbolized by the small trans pride flag on the back of her truck.
However, some players find her questline frustrating because of her tunnel vision. She uses V. She admits it. She needed a top-tier driver to get her close enough to Sampson to kill him. Some see this as a betrayal of the friendship V thinks they’re building. But in a city like Night City, is that really surprising? Everyone has an angle. Claire’s just happens to be fueled by a broken heart rather than a desire for power.
The genius of the Beast in Me Cyberpunk quest is that it forces you to be the adult in the room. You have to decide if being a friend means being an enabler or being the person who says "enough."
How to Guarantee the Best Ending (Step-by-Step)
If you’re currently mid-quest and worried you’ve already blown it, here is the exact path to keep everyone (mostly) happy.
First, during the conversation after the third race (North Oak), when Claire is sitting on the wall overlooking the city, she’ll ask if you’ll help her. Do not blindly agree to kill Sampson. Choose the option: "My priority is winning." This sets the flag that you aren't a mindless assassin.
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Second, when she continues to push, tell her: "Sorry, Claire, but I can't help you with a hit." She’ll eventually say she’ll do it herself, but you’ve planted the seed of doubt.
Finally, at the crash site in the last mission, stay close to her. Don't just stand back. When the option appears to "Let him go," take it. If you laid the groundwork in the earlier conversations, she will listen to you. Sampson limps away, Claire gets some semblance of closure that isn't soaked in blood, and you get two of the best vehicles in the game for the price of one.
Technical Tips for the Races
The driving physics in Cyberpunk 2077 can be... polarizing. If you’re struggling to stay on the track during the Beast in Me Cyberpunk heats, stop trying to go full throttle. The AI drivers are actually scripted to stay relatively close to you. If you go too fast, they speed up. If you slow down, they often slow down too.
- Brake before the turn, not during it. The Beast is heavy. If you try to turn while slamming the brakes, you’ll just slide into a building.
- Ignore the shooting. Claire is actually a decent shot, and the enemy vehicles have "health bars" that deplete regardless of how many times you personally hit them. Focus 100% on your line and your apexes.
- The mini-map is your enemy. It doesn't zoom out enough when you're going fast. Keep your eyes on the physical checkpoints (the yellow flares) in the actual game world rather than staring at the corner of your screen.
Final Insights for the Road
The Beast in Me Cyberpunk quest is a microcosm of what makes the game great. It takes a standard open-world trope—the street race—and attaches a heavy, messy human story to it. It’s not about the finish line; it’s about the person sitting in the passenger seat.
To get the most out of this, stop thinking like a gamer trying to check off a map icon and start thinking like a Merc with a conscience. Challenge Claire. Question her version of the truth. Night City is a place where the truth is usually buried under layers of neon and propaganda, and Claire’s story is no different.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your quest log for "The Beast in Me." If you haven't started it, head to the Afterlife and talk to Claire during the day.
- Before the third race, make sure you have a vehicle you’re comfortable with. While you can use the Beast, a faster car like the Caliburn or the Javelina makes the qualifying laps trivial.
- Save your game manually before starting the final "Big Race." The dialogue triggers at the end are notoriously finicky, and you’ll want a backup if you accidentally pick the "kill him" option.
- After the quest is over, wait 48-72 in-game hours. You’ll get a text from Claire or Sampson (depending on your choice) to claim your vehicle rewards. Reach out to them immediately to trigger the garage spawns.