Universal crosses the finish line with a new world-class coaster

September 15, 2026, 5:12 PM · Let’s talk about drifting.

In auto racing, there are few more spectacular sights that watching cars burn through a turn at high speed, wheels smoking, as drivers balance on the edge of control. A race car drifting through a turn does not drive parallel to the edges of the track like a responsible drivers ed graduate trying to pass their test at the DMV. Instead, pro racers slide through the turn at absurd angles, pushing their car sideways against its momentum.

It’s all because of the lesson that Doc Hudson taught Lightning McQueen in the original "Cars." Sometimes, you have to turn right to go left. As you mash that accelerator and hold it down through a turn, a car’s natural reaction is for that rear end to snap around, turning faster than the front. To counter that, you pick just the right moment to twist the wheel the opposite way, turning into the skid.

If you took the corner at high enough speed, the conflict between the direction of the front and rear wheels will resolve into an angry compromise, as the car slides, or drifts, through the turn at maximum speed. When it happens, the tires are no longer driving the car as much as they are being dragged along for the ride, creating those thrilling pillars of smoke.

Of course, dragging that handbrake or shifting just right for some extra wheel spin can help amplify the smoke and sound. From street races and takeovers to the professional ranks of the Formula Drift circuit, drifting captures eyeballs as well as checkered flags, making a ride in a drifting racecar a wish fulfillment moment for many race fans.

Which brings us to Universal Studios Hollywood’s new roller coaster, Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift. Namechecking the third movie in the franchise, "Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift," this new thrill ride from Intamin and Universal Creative promises riders Universal's fastest roller coaster in the world, with a top speed of 72 mph.

But this is not Universal's first attempt at a Fast & Furious ride. Let's talk about another meaning of that word, "drift." Because when I think of drifting and Fast & Furious, I also think about how this franchise has drifted over the years from gritty films about street racing to absurdist, CGI-driven heist fantasies that defy every law of physics, economics, and Hollywood star management.

Universal got caught in that Hollywood Drift with its Fast & Furious Supercharged attraction, which delivered moments that exactly zero fans ever wished for – to sit on a bus and watch grainy Pepper’s Ghost images of Fast & Furious stars before lumbering into yet another Universal 3D CGI screen attraction. Now that experience is gone on both coasts, and let us never speak of it again.

In its place now, we have Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift, which opens officially to USH visitors Wednesday. On the east coast, Universal Studios Florida fans can anticipate getting their own version of the coaster sometime in the spring (maybe?) next year.

I was out of town when Universal first soft-opened the ride last month, so I chose to wait for my first run today, when the park hosted its media preview. Universal had invited me to check out the ride’s cars, station and track before opening it to the public, so I was not walking into this experience cold.

But even though I knew what this track looked like, I still wondered, how would it feel to ride? Universal and Intamin have created a unique system for spinning these muscle car-themed vehicles on the track. They do not spin randomly or via weight distribution, like so many other spinning coasters. Instead, Universal Creative team has choreographed these cars in an attempt to find just the right balance between thrill and comfort for the millions of fans who visit the park each year.

To me, that challenge sounded a bit too much like the "you have to turn right to go left" riddle that left Lightning McQueen so confused. A real drifting race car pulls unimaginable lateral G forces. And hard lateral G’s often are riders' least favorite feeling on a coaster. How can Universal make a drifting street racer roller coaster that won’t leave riders feeling like they’ve just been in a high speed wreck?

It turns out, the answer is right there in the coaster’s name. It’s a "Hollywood" drift – it’s all make believe.

The dominant feeling on Fast & Furious Hollywood Drift is not lateral G force. It’s hangtime. You will spend as much time out of your seat on this coaster as race fans do watching a last lap battle for the lead at the Indianapolis 500. The spinning on Hollywood Drift feels more like gentle turns, like an Omnimover swiveling to adjust your point of view on a dark ride.

Disney explored a similar ride system with its Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT. But Disney’s supposed "family" coaster pulls a much more intense lateral G moment than anything on Hollywood Drift, which has a 51-inch height requirement.

I spoke with Universal Creative's Jon Corfino, who talked me through the ride and Universal’s approach to creating it.

Out of the station, Hollywood Drift makes coy turn to its left as it drops slightly into its first maneuver. Like skillful racer’s move, it’s just a set-up for the more aggressive cornering to come. Let Corfino explain it:

"You go into a deep left bank down, where you can't see where you're going, into what we call a hopper, where you pull your first negative G. Then you're going into the pretzel, where you're doing a couple inversions, and then accelerating down into the loop down by the film building. That's when you hit the big launch, when you go 72 miles an hour, and then you go inverted."

From there, the coaster hangs over then slides under the Starway on its way back to the station. Hops of airtime set up many of the inversions, which make great use of the hangtime that Universal perfected on its Jurassic World VelociCoaster in Orlando.

All that said, it’s Coaster 101 at this point that the back seat of any coaster offers a more intense physical experience, given the pull over track elements from the back of the train. Somehow, with the differing spinning on each car, Universal has managed to amplify that effect, with the Toyota Supra in the back pulling a much more forceful run through Hollywood Drift’s elements than the Dodge Charger up front.

More time up front means more endurance for re-rides, for me, at least. What does not seem to matter as much on this coaster is the view. Joe Rohde has a great scientific explanation for this in this week's Theme Park Insider Podcast, which drops Thursday morning. Science teaches, Rohde said, that our vision constricts as we move faster. So as Hollywood Drift speeds up, we tune out its amazing views of the San Fernando Valley and the mountains surrounding it as we focus on the track ahead… and sometimes, people staring back at us from the car that we though was behind us just a moment ago.

But that’s the nature of a street race, isn’t it? Who is ahead at one moment might not be ahead in the next. Ultimately, as another car-themed attraction down the 5 taught us, the race itself does not matter. We all win, because we all got to go on this ride.

Sum it up, and Hollywood Drift delivers the wish fulfillment of being in the passenger seat for a thrilling, high-speed race. This is the Fast & Furious attraction that fans of the "family" have deserved and have been awaiting for the past 25 years. It's the perfect setting for the world-class, iconic coaster that Universal Studios Hollywood has lacked.

Update: The stars did not show for Universal's media opening moment this evening.

Universal had promoted to invited media that Vin Diesel would be on hand to open officially Universal Studios Hollywood's new coaster. But the Fast & Furious star and producer no-showed for the ceremony. As did other invited stars of the franchise.

Awkward. But the show did go on, though just with USH EVP and GM Scott Strobl and Universal Destinations & Experiences Chairman and CEO Mark Woodbury. Despite Universal holding this event the day after the Emmys, when every celebrity is in town and nothing is in production. Here is the video, minus the over-amplified pop music that the copyright bots don't like me including.

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