Have you ever watched a Fast & Furious chase and wondered, Could anyone actually survive that? The franchise is famous for spectacular car mayhem, but not every stunt is pure fantasy.

In fact, a physics expert has praised one scene as startlingly accurate—while calling another almost completely impossible.

F&F And Physics

The Fast & Furious series started with relatively grounded street races, then steadily shifted into globe-trotting action with cars flying between skyscrapers, dragging safes, and even leaving Earth. That evolution built a reputation for ignoring the laws of nature in favour of entertainment.

Because of that, many viewers now assume every set piece is cartoon-level exaggeration. Yet when physicist Diandra Leslie-Pelecky analysed several key sequences, she found a mix: some stunts are wildly unrealistic, but others actually line up nicely with high-school physics.

Surprisingly Real Stunt

The most surprising verdict came from Furious 7. Amid all the outrageous moments—parachuting cars, window-to-window jumps—one sequence involving Brian O’Conner on a falling bus earned near-perfect marks for realism from the physicist.

In the scene, the heroes are in a mountain chase. A tactical bus teeters on the edge of a cliff, then tips and starts to plunge. Brian ends up on the exterior of the bus as it slides toward the drop, forcing him into a desperate sprint along its length.

The Falling Bus

As the vehicle tilts and begins falling, Brian runs “up” the bus, trying to reach the end that is still momentarily above the edge. At the last instant, he leaps off and grabs the rear of Letty’s car as she slides sideways near the cliff, narrowly avoiding a fatal fall.

On screen it looks like pure fantasy, but the underlying idea is sound. The bus is moving down and rotating, Brian is running in the opposite direction relative to the bus, and both share the same overall motion relative to the ground until he jumps. It’s essentially an extreme version of running up a moving escalator.

Why It Works

Leslie-Pelecky pointed out that the sequence cleverly illustrates Newton’s laws. When Letty’s car stops sharply after Brian catches the rear, his body keeps moving forward, swinging around because of momentum. That’s exactly what physics predicts when an object in motion is suddenly anchored.

The stunt still requires perfect timing, strong grip, and serious athletic ability, but nothing about it outright breaks the rules of mechanics. For that reason, the physicist rated the bus run and catch as fully plausible within real-world physics—a rare 10 out of 10 for this franchise.

Runway Gone Wild

If Furious 7 gave the series a realism win, Fast & Furious 6 delivered the opposite. The climactic runway sequence, where the crew battles a massive cargo plane during takeoff, has long been a fan favourite—and a frequent target of jokes.

In that finale, multiple cars race alongside the plane as it accelerates, grapples with the villains, and struggles to leave the ground. The scene goes on and on, cutting between different fights and dramatic moments while everyone appears to stay on the same endless of tarmac.

Why It Fails

Leslie-Pelecky examined the speeds involved, the time the action unfolds on screen, and typical runway lengths. Even if the cars and plane were travelling at realistic takeoff speeds, the implied distance covered is enormous—far beyond the length of any actual runway in operation.

For context, some of the longest real-world runways measure under three and a half miles. The sequence in the film would require many times longer to accommodate the continuous high-speed chase. Add in the idea of Dom driving a car out of a crashing cargo plane at just the right moment, and the physics strains credibility past breaking.

Because of these issues, the physicist gave the runway scene an extremely low realism score, essentially saying it pushes suspension of disbelief as far as it can go. It works as spectacle, but not as anything a pilot or engineer would recognise as possible.

Fun Versus Facts

Importantly, Leslie-Pelecky is not arguing that the movies should behave like documentaries. She openly acknowledges that large-scale action films operate on their own “movie physics,” bending reality to keep the audience thrilled and invested.

The interesting part is how the franchise mixes the two. Some sequences are carefully choreographed around genuine physical principles, giving them a visceral, believable feel. Others are designed with entertainment as the top priority, happily sacrificing realism for bigger reactions and more dramatic moments.

For viewers, knowing which is which can actually deepen the fun. Recognising the rare stunt that would work in real life makes it even more impressive, while understanding the impossibilities behind the wildest scenes highlights just how exaggerated—and creative—the filmmakers are willing to be.

In the end, Fast & Furious was never meant to be a physics lesson, but it sometimes comes closer than fans might expect. With that in mind, which stunt from the series do you think feels surprisingly believable, and which over-the-top moment do you still love even though you know it could never happen off the screen?