Me and @calluna watched the first episode the other night, really enjoyed it. Like you say, strong blade runner steampunk vibes.
Maybe you'll be the one other person who remembers this, but there was a TV show called Space Precinct, I think. The cop cars in Altered Carbon reminded me very much of the ones in that old show
Wow I've never seen that! But now I must check it out if I can find it on youtube or something. Very cool.
It's one of those things I keep meaning to look up myself, I think it might have had Gerry Anderson involved in making it?
Update: Found the first episode on YouTube, gonna have to send that to my dad now