We all know theFast & Furiousfranchise got increasingly outlandish as it went on, but one expert says even the very first movie was unrealistic. As the story of the LAPD officer Brian O’Conner infiltrating a gang of street racers,The Fast and the Furiouslaunched abillion-dollar media franchisethat continues to this day.
Later films in the series embracedover-the-top stuntsthat defied the laws of physics, and by comparison,the very firstFastmovie felt like it was grounded in a sense of realism. Yet when taking genuine automobile functions and street racing culture into account, real mechanics say that this franchise starter was illogical to begin with.
The Final Race In The Fast & The Furious Makes No Sense
In a video for the car-focused YouTube channelDonut,real mechanics looked back on theFast & Furiousfranchiseand came to the conclusion that this series never made much sense. The mechanics pointed out the final race that kicks off with Dominic Toretto popping a front wheelie as particularly outrageous.
While a car wheelie isn’t totally impossible, the fact that Dom’s car is doing a wheelie and burnout simultaneously defies basic vehicle dynamics, as he doesn’t have the traction needed to get the weight to transfer and get the car off the ground. If a real driver attempted Dom’s move, their car would lose balance and push forward.
The mechanics agree that the physics just didn’t add up for the final race and thatDom’s supercharged engine wouldn’t have been able to continue racing after he blew it out, with one expert even claiming Dom would have probably died trying this. While this race was incredibly entertaining, in terms of sheer car mechanics, it just doesn’t add up.
These Mechanics Only Found One Fast & Furious Scene That Was Realistic
One scene inThe Fast and the Furiousthe mechanics were impressed with was whenDominic Toretto’s crew member Jesseexplained the problems with a car. Jesse memorably stated, “It’s your fuel map; it’s got a nasty hole. That’s why you’re unloading in third. Lengthen the injector pulse another millisecond, tune the NOS time, and you’ll run nines.”
While this might sound like complex car jargon to the average viewer, the expert mechanics agree that it was far more coherent than ridiculous phrases like “danger to manifold.” As a legitimate piece of tuning advice, Jesse’s line was a rare moment where the dialogue intheFastfranchisereflected real-world automotive language.
