Sorry I missed a step.
Basically it this happens when the replay is in pause mode. My recipe should have read
6.5 Follow car again
The follow cam works while stepping forward, but the moment you step backwards the view is reset to a static view at the point the original follow car command was invoked. Locking toggle the view seems to "set" the point at which the view is reset to (and this includes a non static follow cam) I can confirm that the car is followed after a replay restarts (which it didn't do before) it just seems paused rewind is the problem now.