Formula E brings ‘Tokyo Drift’ to life with Sung Kang

In 2006, the third installment (or sixth, if you watch them in chronological order) of what was previously a film series about street racing hit the screens. “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” shed a light on Japanese car culture and brought drifting into the mainstream consciousness.

While cars and Japan are a perfect marriage, the country’s capital city has never hosted a race on its streets, at least not legally. That all changed this weekend with the inaugural Tokyo E-Prix.

Actor Sung Kang, who starred as Han in “Tokyo Drift,” was in attendance at the landmark Formula E race. He blurred the line between his on-screen alter ego and real life by becoming the latest famous face to get behind the wheel of a current-generation Formula E car for a demonstration run ahead of the race.

“I got to drive the GEN3 car [and] did a little drifting at the beginning,” joked Kang, who spun early on his run. “There’s so much torque, so much power. It’s instantaneous; it’s a lot of car for somebody that is not a professional race car driver. My lunch almost came out but it’s so exciting, so fun.”