Sung Kang got tired of waiting for Hollywood to make a car movie that actually respects car people. So he made one himself.
“Drifter,” written, directed by, and starring the Fast and Furious franchise’s most beloved gearhead, dropped its first trailer over the weekend through IGN. The film follows Tree, a race track janitor hauling around a lifetime of baggage who gets one last shot at competing in a professional drifting series. He does it behind the wheel of a Toyota AE86 nicknamed Lola.
That car choice alone tells you everything about where Kang’s head is at. The AE86 is the beating heart of Initial D, the legendary manga and anime series that shaped an entire generation of drift culture. Kang is reportedly tied to an upcoming Initial D project as well, making this feel less like a standalone film and more like the opening move of a larger play.
The production went deep on authenticity. The film’s website catalogs each AE86 used during shooting — Lola 1, Lola 2, and Lola 2B — with full spec sheets. The stunt coordinator is Eliza Coleman, who cut her teeth on Ken Block’s Gymkhana series, including the final “ELECTRIKHANA” installment.
The cast reads like a who’s who of grassroots car culture: Formula Drift champion Dai Yoshihara, pro drifter Ryan Tuerck, FD technical commentator Jacob Gettins, Rutledge Wood, and James Pumphrey, formerly of Donut Media and now running the car content outlet Speeed. This is not a studio film staffed by people who think a catalytic converter is a kitchen appliance.
Kang told IGN the project was meant to be a “love letter to the car community,” adding that “traditionally, films have not respected the car community in the way I see the car community.” That’s a polite way of saying what anyone who has watched a mainstream car movie already knows. Studios treat vehicles as props — loud, shiny furniture that exists to explode on cue.
The culture around them, the obsession, the community built in parking lots and paddocks at 2 a.m., almost never makes it to the screen with any fidelity.
The Fast and Furious franchise itself is the clearest example. What started as a street racing film rooted in Southern California car culture morphed into a globe-trotting action spectacle where cars get launched into space. Kang’s Han Lue became a fan favorite precisely because the character seemed to genuinely belong in that world.
Now Kang is taking that credibility and betting on something smaller, more personal, and almost certainly more honest.
There’s no confirmed release date yet, though IGN reported it’s expected later this year. The film’s website teases a “Drifter World Tour” events section, suggesting Kang plans to bring the movie directly to enthusiast communities rather than relying entirely on traditional distribution. The audience he’s chasing doesn’t live at multiplexes — they live at drift events and car meets.
The next mainline Fast and Furious installment isn’t expected until early 2028. By then, Kang may have already proved that the franchise’s original soul — cars, community, and the people who pour themselves into both — doesn’t need a $200 million budget to land. It just needs someone who actually gives a damn.
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