They shift gear and suddenly the car lurches forward.... Were they in the wrong gear all along?

And then they shift in a higher gear, allowing them to drive nearly twice as fast, because they didn't think of that before

Entire movie: "This guy always overtakes on the inside".

Final race: "OH MY GOD! Is he overtaking on the outside?!? HE NEVER DOES THAT! He is! He is overtaking on the outside!!!"

Yes, it was a Nascar movie.

That's why Speed Racer is the best racing movie. It knows it's bullshit but goes hard as fuck with it anyhow.

I also enjoy when they quickly pull up alongside then match speed and remain side by side rather than overtake.

Shift gears again.

This was actually pretty cool in that one Animatrix short where the dude runs so hard he almost breaks free of the Matrix... And then his leg muscles explode.

My fax part is when is about to catch up and they cut away and then come back and are separated again but closing

Yeah, the deus-ex-machina-like sudden resolve some protagonist gains for the same action they already repeated several times but now they become op with it.

Someones it's the gas pedal that it turns out was only half-used before, sometimes in a fight the punches only become way stronger when the protagonist is already tired, beaten, and about to collapse, even bullets sometimes start working on the big baddies from point-blank range only when the protagonist is about to die but then drops a one-liner.

Sometimes it's also yelling - someone physically can't do the thing until the boss yells at them & then suddenly it happens.

I used to watch NASCAR with my dad as a kid (and play racing sims). There's a lot of fuel, tire management, and drafting effects involved, so they actually don't go all out at all times. It's actually kinda interesting from a strategic perspective; just not interesting to watch, IMO.

It's so funny how everyone here discusses how the race scene in this or that spy movie is unrealistic. Actually the most unrealistic thing is that the Chinese spy and the US spy would be racing to steal their secret in the first place, while in reality they would just seduce one another to steal their secrets. In a realistic movie, the bank robber wouldn't race against the police either, he would just shut down his computer.

Losing in a car race? Just change gear!

Nitro button, the grandparent of drift button.

If you watch a Seagal film, sometimes their license plate changes mid-chase.

I maintain that Rush is one of the best racing movies ever made.

Both Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl were DEEP in their respective roles. And to top it off the score by the LEGENDARY Hans Zimmer.

The fact that it won no academy awards is proof that the Oscars are run by a bunch of idiots.

So reading the comments; most people that race don't generally want to destroy their car.

And yes, you can drop gears down and floor it but there's a high risk of all sorts of damage and your clutch won't talk to you for days after. That's why you want to bring your car on a trailer for track days. Also tires are expensive; burning through 2k in a day is rough.

Constant shifting is done for temperature maintenance often. Not everyone has a million dollar team to perfect everything.

I think while it's cheesy, the first race in fast and the furious was slightly accurate when you start pushing the limits of your car and it starts falling apart. Vibrations get intense, sometimes you just back out; I did around 140 on a straight and I was like nah man you take win.

Lookup Lemons Races; it's all about keeping your shitbucket from breaking down and not getting cooked(and yourself).

And also shifting into 20th gear.

Pink nitrous exhaust flames on the girl's car..

My favourite part is when they show the hero and his car is making fast car noises and he shifts like crazy going fast and drifting and yet the bad guy/cop is still tailgating him with his old beat up truck.

[off topic]

One of the best car chase sequences ever filmed.

The Seven Ups.

https://youtu.be/Ob1VctUT9kQ

They just raise their universal limiter

I love the '66 movie Grand Prix, but the last race was so unrealistic... Jean Pierre Sarti stalls at the start and falls way behind. Then he roars off and passes motherfuckers like they are standing still! Runs all the way up to the lead pack... then, well... let's just say he didn't win. If his car was that much faster than everyone else's, how the fuck didn't he win every race? Still love the movie tho.

Just watched Cinderella grey and it's basically that but only after an emotional flashback

The movie redline gets me so hype every watch.

The power to drop the hammer was inside of us all along.

Ever play a real racing simulator?

Want to take a second to recognize the need for speed movie trying to be more "real" than fast and furious by not using CGI, but somehow coming out more fake. Back road racing with lots of turns. Not a single downshift in the whole movie.