The highly anticipated Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift lived up to expectations and earned the title of the Best New Roller Coaster of 2026 during the grand opening of the first-of-its-kind ride at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift will officially open to the public on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at Universal Studios Hollywood.
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I rode Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift seven times during a media preview on Tuesday, Sept. 15 and found every experience to be ever-changing, unpredictable and exhilarating.
Fast & Furious star Vin Diesel, who played Dominic Toretto in the $7 billion film franchise, was expected to be on hand during an official grand opening ceremony later in the day on Tuesday.
The multi-launch coaster reaches a top speed of 72 mph while navigating four inversions along the 4,100-foot hillside-hugging track.
Dom’s 1970 Dodge Charger serves as the lead vehicle on the coaster trains that feature three other ride vehicles themed to look like authentic Fast & Furious film cars.
What makes Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift stand out from other coasters is the 360-degree rotating coaster vehicles that “drift” like the muscle cars from the street racing film franchise.
The first-of-its-kind ride experience combines Hollywood movie-style car stunts with the controlled spin of the Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge dark ride and a thrilling high speed roller coaster.
No two ride experiences are ever alike on Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift even though the individual ride vehicles follow a predetermined rotation sequence — largely due to the fact that I never sat in the same seat twice. The end result: I never knew whether I’d be watching the clouds above or the ground below as I navigated each inversion.
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It’s possible to anticipate some elements of the ride, but it’s virtually impossible to tell which way your car will be facing at any given moment.
That feeling of randomness leaves you constantly wondering what will happen next and makes the coaster immensely repeatable.
I rode in the front, back and middle and never found a bad seat on the new coaster. The front hero car offers the best view, the back car delivers a faster and more intense experience and the middle two cars don’t always spin the same way as the front and back.
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Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift stands head and shoulders above the 2026 coaster crowd that lacked many true contenders for the crown of best new coaster of the year.
The quadruple-inversion Tormenta Rampaging Run is the biggest competitor for the 2026 coaster crown, but the new Six Flags Over Texas ride is merely the latest and greatest version of a Bolliger & Mabillard Dive coaster that first debuted in 1998.
Tormenta Rampaging Run
The same can be said for Drakon at Paultons Park in the United Kingdom that offers a new take on the Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter that first debuted in 2003.
Drakon
The four-rides-in-one NightFlight Expedition combines a water coaster with a flight simulator, boat ride and whitewater rafting experience — but most fans would likely describe the new Dollywood attraction as a dark ride rather than a coaster.
Quantum Accelerator
Falcons Flight completely reshuffled the record books when the world’s fastest, tallest and longest coaster opened at Six Flags Qiddiya in Saudi Arabia in late 2025 — too late for consideration for most Best of 2025 honors and too early for 2026 consideration.
Barracuda Strike
The remaining 2026 coasters that might warrant consideration at SeaWorld San Antonio (Barracuda Strike), Six Flags New England (Quantum Accelerator) and Kentucky Kingdom (Flying Fox) can’t compare to Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift.
Flying Fox
If you disagree that Fast & Furious is the Best New Coaster of 2026, check out the videos above and decide for yourself. I think you’ll find Hollywood Drift leaves them all at the starting line in a cloud of burnt rubber.
ALSO SEE: Fast & Furious riders wait in the middle of the action to ride new Universal coaster
It certainly feels strange to be finally riding the year’s best new coaster for the first time after Labor Day weekend.
Universal technically met the official “summer 2026” opening date with the summer season officially stretching through Sept. 22 — although most fans expected the ride to open on or before Memorial Day weekend.
Universal began on-again, off-again “technical rehearsals” of Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift in July and passholder previews in August.
The opening of the new coaster was delayed while Universal installed additional sound barriers to address noise complaints from nearby Toluca Lake residents.
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The delays only made it easier to compare Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift to the rest of the 2026 field of contenders — and made it clear the new Universal thrill ride is the best of the 168 new roller coasters that have opened around the world so far this year.