I should have clarified that but seeing that Vangers shared a very similar perspective to the game I'm thinking of I decided against mentioning it but yes, it's top-down with a hint of perspective.
It's definitely not Death Rally because the game wasn't about racing. I remember riding around in this buggy / bike contraption shooting at other vehicles.
Esthetically - and in terms of perspective and color palette - it's similar to Earth 2140, but that isn't it either!
Wow, that looks really good for 1997! Sadly, the game I'm thinking of is 2D, sprite-based.
I'm *so* tempted to say it's Fallout but I don't remember ever going on foot. All the screenshots I see of the first two Fallout games show someone walking around.
Oh, and Fallout doesn't seem to have much in the way of vehicles.