Dunno[???!!!]
Tried removing, cleaning residue, reinstalling, checked security suite rules etc.
I installed a couple of smaller games to see if they also exhibited this new issue but they did not.
Win10 Pro x64 v1511
SATA SSD

Are you using GOG Galaxy? Try downloading the game directly from your library on the site.

Thanks for the reply.
That's what I eventually did, though it shouldn't have been necessary.

Did this fix the issue of being able to play the game? I'm currently trying this now - and I agree, it should't be necessary at all. I'm running Windows 10 as well, and I think it would be good for the casual observer of this thread to know if it indeed works.

Thank you, that helped, GOG Galaxy failed multiple times but working fine now

Yes it did.

I love C2 as one of my go-to fun-time sandbox games.
For a modern gamer, I'd say the definitive Carmageddon experiences are C2 and the C1+C2 mash-up, "Max Damage" using their engine for "Reincarnation"; now fixed.
Actually, I don't think modern gamers quite expect the slippy-slidy cartoon driving mechanism of MD, and feel it's a flaw.
I have C1 installed at the moment.
I never played it myself, but remember thinking the tracks looked cool when I watched a friend doing so back in the day.
I'm trying to ignore sprite characters in 3D games, just so I can experience the gameplay.
Talking of sprite characters, I've already got through D00M Ultimate and am now more than halfway through D00M II - which is actually very good, despite being shallow. One can see where Serious Sam and PainKiller "RoboTron 3D"-style arena shooters have their origins.

As an aside...
I'm no longer using Win10.
It was self-destructing the more I attempted to take back command and secure it from its own internal data-harvesting.
The new GUI system control options were limited and dumbed-down while the old GUI underneath had more, but had lost some too.
The new GUI would often lock itself or the entire system up and I got totally tired of fighting off probing impositions.
Also, being forced to enable Windows Firewall [yeah, right. Sure I want an MS firewall intercepting all transactions between myself and the web] and with Stikky Notes being changed to a cloud thing too.
No-no-no-no NO!
I have returned to Win7 Ultimate x64 for the entirety of my remaining time with Windows; with other WIn-based machines running WinXP Pro x86 and x64 <- which is great, despite what seems to have been Vista-promoting trolling bad-mouthing it at the time.
If anyone wants to replace lost features of Win10 when they roll back, there are free programs to allow for a couple of things I missed:-
Mouse-over scrolling is available through tiny-footprint Antibody's "WizMouse" - so one doesn't have to find an empty area of a pane to click first in order to gain priority.
"Dual Monitor Taskbar" - on SourceForge - does an okay job as the only reasonable free program available.
I've always used VoidTools' "Everything" search as an immediate - find-as-you-type - search function since MS got rid of XP's pre-v4 search function and replaced it with... uh... autism.
In fact, I like the immediacy so much that I even install it on my XP boxes.

Beware, though!...
For anyone returning to Win7: MS is attempting to retro-fit "telemetry" and reverse CPU obsolescence into Win7 via Windows Update: NEW CPUs will be detected and denied.
If an update reads as vague and ambiguous, do a meta-search on it before downloading and installing.