Movies and television can have a bad effect on reality. The Web is full of various stories about how the “lifesaving technology” we’ve seen in movies becomes harmful in real life. For example, gun enthusiasts are constantly complaining in gun stores about the product they bought because that’s not what they saw in the movies or on TV. It’s the same with cars. We often believe what we see in movies, taking many things at face value. As a result, movies and TV series become the culprits of many car myths, which are seriously entrenched among car enthusiasts. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Even before the premiere of the “Fast and Furious” movies, most of the movies presented on the screens cars that had nothing to do with real life. Although it is worth admitting that, for the most part, viewers understand where the fiction and where the truth is. Nevertheless, we are all willing to believe some things that in real life are most often impossible.
Still, much of what is shown in movies about cars is somehow perceived by viewers as fact. But, starting from many stunts and ending with some technical characteristics of cars, in fact, everything turns out to be a fake for the sake of entertainment.
True, most viewers are smart enough to distinguish fiction from reality. The motorists with a great experience of driving cope with it especially well. The younger generation, on the other hand, often assume that they are seeing things on screens that can be done in real life. As a result, many young people, after watching movies like “Fast and Furious,” begin to transfer many of the things they see on the screen to the real world, getting into serious accidents and literally breaking their cars. The worst part is that with their antics, they harm not only themselves, but also other road users.
To see how movies differ from reality, as well as to warn many drivers who believe what happens in many Hollywood movies, we have gathered for you 7 automotive myths that came to the car world from the world of movies.
1. Cars bounce and stay unscathed
Here’s one of the wildest automotive myths the world cinema has massively promoted. You’ve probably seen cars in various blockbusters remain unscathed after incredible jumps. Especially surprising are the jumps from the hill. But the cars in the pictures after the jumps continue to drive as if nothing had happened. Even if the car has seriously damaged the body after the jump. In fact, in the real world, this is unlikely. Read here about red lightning bolt on dash.
The fact is that even with minor jumps the car quickly goes out of order. During even minor bumps on the ground or asphalt the tires are damaged and the suspension fails. And many small bumps can completely destroy the car. By the way, even if the car is perfect from the outside, it doesn’t mean that it will have no damage after the jump. Most often, the impact results in hidden damage. This can even result in engine problems.
2. Drifting makes your car faster
Obviously the worst offender in our ranking is the third installment of “Fast and Furious,” which is called “Tokyo Drift.” In that movie, we were led to believe that drifting allows cars to increase their speed. But it actually contradicts the laws of physics. In fact, drifting slows down your car. By the way, this is the reason why drifting didn’t gain popularity in racing. After all drifting would have given a terrific chance to catch up and overtake the leaders back then. Despite this obvious fact many drivers are unaware of this and after watching such movies continue to believe that drifting gives an advantage in speed.
This kind of myth has been around since long before the release of the cult racing movies. But with the arrival of the Fast and Furious franchise, this myth was made more popular. It was these movies that promoted the idea that any car could be driven the same way, regardless of make, model, engine, etc. That is, it does not matter if you sit behind the wheel of a sports car or a powerful SUV, their handling, according to the creators of the franchise, is exactly the same. But of course, this is not the case.
3. Weather and road conditions don’t affect your driving
Here’s another dangerous myth that has come to the auto world from Hollywood motion pictures. In many movies, we are shown that driving in rain or heavy snow is just as easy and simple as driving in normal, normal road conditions. Here’s an example. In a recent movie, Hurricane Heist, there is a car chase. And the chase takes place during a hurricane, which is absolutely ridiculous. Also, in some movies we are shown how cars easily navigate roads covered in oil or ice.
Some pictures go so far as to make it really look unreal. For example, in the movie “Fast and Furious 8,” we can see the hero of the movie driving a car on fire. All of these elements form myths. Many drivers begin to believe that the car is somehow immune to outside weather conditions, etc.
4. Most cars can handle any terrain
This is a long-standing myth that won’t just go away. Especially if they don’t stop filming “The Fast and the Furious,” which is the leader in the emergence of various automotive myths in movie history.
Remember “Fast and Furious 8,” where the main scene of the picture unfolded on a frozen lake. This scene does not look serious, but more like a comedy. But even for a comedy, what happens on screen is frustrating. You will see how ordinary sedans, pickup trucks, and other simple cars handle the slippery surface with ease. Also in this picture you will see many scenes where ordinary cars overcome grassy fields, hard dirt roads, muddy trails and other extreme areas without any problems.
It’s especially hilarious to watch a Ferrari sports car challenge a 4×4 SUV on rough terrain. For a sports car, even light off-roading should actually end up damaging the tires, suspension, bodywork, etc. The worst part is that many viewers take such scenes at face value.
5. Downshifting does no harm
It’s an old myth that’s been around since long before “The Fast and the Furious” came along. In almost any racing movie, we are shown racing drivers constantly shifting gears. Especially often we are shown how the racers, moving at high speed, before a turn shift into a lower gear supposedly to get through the steep corner better. The most amazing thing is that we do not see the driver reduce speed. Of course, it’s just for spectacle’s sake. In reality, it’s not like that. Read here more.
Most automobile mechanics think that shifting to a lower gear at high speed is not only harmful to a gearbox, but also dangerous. In practice, putting in a downshift does little to help the performance of the car, and constant gear shifting can damage not only the box, but also the engine. So what we see on the screens is more for show. In reality, constant downshifting does more harm to the car than good.
6. Wheel slippage
More than once we have been shown in “Forsage” movies, how the car with incredible wheel spinning starts from a place, leaving behind a ball of smoke from burnt tires. On the screen it looks spectacular and impressive. But in real life, it’s very hard to do incredible spinning. For this purpose it is necessary to have big traction. And it will not be possible to stall for a long time, as traction leads to the fact that the car loses traction. So it is practically impossible to slip for a long time with the car standing still.
7. It is easy to steal a car
That may have been true once upon a time long ago. But not today. Movies and various TV shows often show us how car thieves steal cars by shorting the wires under the steering column. As a result, many people today think that modern cars can actually be stolen easily this way.
The best part is that even in older cars, shorting the wires is unlikely to get the engine started. Not only that, but it is also dangerous.