In the film, car enthusiast Sean Boswell (Black) is sent to live in Tokyo with his estranged father and finds solace exploring the city's drifting community.

In Oro Valley, Arizona, high school troublemaker Sean Boswell races classmate Clay in their respective cars, a 1971 Chevy Monte Carlo and a 2003 SRT-10 Dodge Viper, where they end up ramming each other with Clay crashing his Viper into a cylinder pipe and Sean winning the race and wrecking his Monte Carlo.

While Clay's family wealth helps him escape punishment, Sean is sent to live with his father, a U.S. Navy lieutenant stationed in Tokyo, to avoid jail time, as he is a repeat offender.

Sean masters the art, practicing in a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, and gains further respect after defeating Takashi's lieutenant, Morimoto.

The chase ends when Sean and Neela's Lancer Evo IX crashes, while Han's 1994 Veilside RX-7 is broadsided by a 1992 Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class sedan and then explodes.

Morgan originally pitched Dominic Toretto in Tokyo, learning to drift and solving a murder, but Universal Pictures wanted a high school-themed story.

[14] By 2005, Paul Walker, who played Brian O'Conner in the first two installments, no longer showed interest in the franchise, citing "politics, studio stuff and regime decision".

[15] Vin Diesel, who didn't appear already in the second movie and at the time was busy with the xXx and The Chronicles of Riddick franchises, also turned down the role, leading the film being ordered as a new stand-alone reboot.

[6] Lin, who wasn't intimately familiar with drifting when he was approached to helm the project, recalled, "I was in film school when The Fast and the Furious came out, and I saw it along with a sold-out crowd who just ate it up.

What really excited me about directing this film was the chance to harness that energy—create a whole new chapter and up the ante by bringing something new to the table for the audience who loves action and speed.

[26] Nobushige Kumakubo, Kazuhiro Tanaka, Tanner Foust, Rich Rutherford, Calvin Wan and Alex Pfeiffer were also brought in as none of Universal's own stunt drivers could drift.

Toshi Hayama was also brought in to keep elements of the film portrayed correctly, who was contacted by Roger Fan, an old high school friend who starred in Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow.

It features contributions from Don Omar, Teriyaki Boyz, Atari Teenage Riot, Brian Tyler, DJ Shadow, Dragon Ash, Evil Nine, Far East Movement, Mos Def, N⋆E⋆R⋆D, Tego Calderón and The 5.6.7.8's.

The site's consensus reads: "Eye-popping driving sequences coupled with a limp story and flat performances make this Drift a disappointing follow-up to previous Fast and Furious installments.

[33][34] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A− on a scale of A to F.[35][31] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, giving it three out of four stars, saying that director Justin Lin "takes an established franchise and makes it surprisingly fresh and intriguing," adding that Tokyo Drift is "more observant than we expect" and that "the story [is] about something more than fast cars".

[36] Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun felt that "the opening half-hour may prove to be a disreputable classic of pedal-to-the-metal filmmaking" and "the last downhill race is a doozy.

[38] Todd McCarthy of Variety gave the film a positive review and praised the "good, old-fashioned genre filmmaking done in a no-nonsense, unpretentious style", adding it "stays in high gear most of the way with several exhilarating racing sequences, and benefits greatly from the evocative Japanese setting."

[39] Michael Medved gave Tokyo Drift one and a half stars out of four, saying: "There's no discernible plot, or emotion, or humor, but the final race is well-staged and nicely shot.

"[42] Ethan Alter of Premiere magazine was particularly critical of Black's character: "during the course of this movie, Sean makes so many dumb decisions it's a wonder that anyone wants to be associated with him.

"[43] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said that Tokyo Drift "suffers from blurred vision, motor drag and a plot that's running on fumes.

"[45] Matt Singer of Village Voice called it "a subculture in search of a compelling story line, and Black's leaden performance makes you pine for the days of Paul Walker.

[56][57][58] Critics and fans have come to appreciate Tokyo Drift for introducing Sung Kang and Justin Lin to the franchise, and enjoyed the simple story, stylish direction, and that the film never takes itself too seriously.

As the film series became more elaborate and incorporated less realistic storylines including heists and spying, the relative simplicity of Tokyo Drift has become more appreciated by critics.

Tokyo Drift was mostly ignored in later films up until the direct sequel Furious 7, while the character Han Lue originally appeared as a short cameo from director Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow.