What bothers you most about car scenes in films?

From tires that squeak on the dirt to 30-speed transmissions, there’s a lot to excite people interested in cars

You’ll never see a car win an Emmy or an Oscar, but they play crucial uncredited roles in hundreds of films and TV shows every year, sometimes even outshining the main cast (and maybe even trump).

Incorporating a car chase into a plot is a surefire way to increase the tension and memorability of any script – Bullitt would have been a routine cop caper without its muscle car duel. And even movies without car chases often rely heavily on the type and model of cars they give their characters to let us know what kind of person they are.

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But often the way these car scenes are filmed and edited drives us crazy. Because while a small deviation from reality in the way a car looks, sounds and functions can go unnoticed by non-car people and even enhance a movie, it can have the opposite effect for people like us and ruin credibility.

We imagine that pilots, sailors, motorcyclists, and anyone else who has a deep understanding of a skill, a profession, or just a geographical area like Los Angeles will get silly when they see something they know that it is not correct, is passed off as real. But car bloopers really stand out because so many people are familiar with cars that they’re easier to spot.

Sometimes it’s the way cars are filmed that’s annoying. For example, when they are turned on a trailer, which makes them too large compared to the cars around them and allows the driver to somehow negotiate a series of corners in a cumbersome sedan with the steering wheel straight while steering with the throttle F1 car from the early 60s. Just seeing film people removing the headrests in cars really gets on my nerves.

Then there are the transmissions that seem to have more ratios than a Kenworth truck, automatic shifters that flail back and forth for no reason in the middle of a chase, and throttles that suddenly slam down as if the driver just noticed , that he has three inches left (76mm) before his right foot hits the mat. And let’s not forget the poorly synchronized sound effects: unrealistic engine and crash noises, tires screeching on gravel (and cars so underpowered they could barely break traction on black ice), and alarm sounds that are fake and completely unnecessary.

Continuity errors like dents (and even different wheels or completely different cars) appearing and then disappearing are not uncommon. And nothing drives a true car enthusiast more crazy than seeing a classic car in a historical film that shouldn’t be there because the model wasn’t released until a year or two later. Yes, it may be as insignificant as a model year bumper or headlight, but it’s enough to shatter the illusion of some of us.

What bothers you most about cars on TV and in movies and what are the worst mistakes you think Hollywood has made? Leave a comment below and let us know.

Screenshot Fast & Furious/Universal