Craving some car content to stream while working your way through an entire bag of peanut-butter-filled pretzel pieces? There's a whole highway's worth of machinery about to cross your screen. Here's a roundup of what's out there to watch, right now.
Racing Triumphs and Tragedies
Drive to Survive
Netflix
Netflix's Drive To Survive needs no introduction at this point, having swelled U.S. viewership of F1 racing by 10 percent and attracted a whole new kind of fan to the documentary series itself. Now in its sixth season, DTS has evolved from a true behind-the-scenes show with previously unheard-of access, to handling teams made wary by that access, to putting out a more polished product that pleases the bosses at F1.
Bluntly, it'd be impossible to re-create the first season, when it felt like the series was genuinely taking us behind closed doors. Furthermore, in this season, some of the editing for storytelling takes precedence over actual timelines. If you watched every single F1 race last season and were taking notes, you can spot the manipulation. Also, the absence of commentator Jennie Gow is acutely felt.
However, it's still good fun of the popcorn-popping variety, with some standout moments, especially if you're a fan of Lando Norris. For casual F1 fans, it does tell a story that's easy to follow, and you might as well get your Guenther Steiner fix while you can.
NASCAR: Full Speed
Netflix
Emulating Drive To Survive's format but not quite copying it outright, NASCAR: Full Speed clearly hopes to broaden the appeal of the world's second-most-popular motorsport. To its credit, the series kept the narrative tightly focused around a smaller group of drivers and just one part of the season: the playoffs.
Where DTS spins up drama through its production, Full Speed feels more honest. It's not unexpected, as F1 is a far more insulated sport for its fans, with multiple layers of security between celebrities on the gridwalk and those in the not-actually-that-cheap seats. NASCAR is far more accessible by contrast, and the drivers tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves.
The five episodes are just enough to explain the main points of the sport, but the hook is, as usual, the human story. Watching Denny Hamlin play up his cocky heel persona while simultaneously putting in the hours as a committed dad gives you a bit more glimpse of his character. But you can still love to boo him for winning.
Our main critique of Full Speed is that it's not quite enough, and it'll leave you wanting more. There are worse ways to make an exit, but NASCAR easily has as many stories to tell as F1, and we hope the next effort goes even further.
The Lionheart
HBO
Another narrative documentary recently out, this time from HBO, is The Lionheart, a feature-length look at the life of Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon. You're going to want to steel yourself for this one, because it is not an easy watch.
Lionheart isn't just Wheldon's tragically-cut-short story, but the story of his family. You can't help but like this cocky kid, son of a plumber, as he comes to be accepted by IndyCar legends like Hélio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti, and you cheer for him when he makes good on his potential. But at the same time, your introduction to the racer comes through his two young sons, both highly competitive kart racers themselves.
The linchpin to the whole piece is Wheldon's widow, Susie, who shows us a mixture of the grief and worry of being a bereaved mother, yet also a fierce resolve to help her sons chase their dreams. Like all films about death in racing, you know how Wheldon's story ends before you go in. But you come away from this film feeling both that loss, and the hope for the future his boys embody.
Schumacher
Netflix
It's a few years old now, but it's worth following up Lionheart with Netflix's excellent Schumacher documentary. Both stories have sad endings, but in Michael Schumacher's case, at least we get to see him achieve the fullness of his racing career.
Anyone who watched the seven-time F1 champion race in period was either a fan or thought of him as perhaps too ruthless a driver, an emotionless racing robot assembled in some German laboratory. Schumacher shows you the determination to win, but leavened with the personal side of his story—the side the F1 broadcasts never saw. Even if you weren't a fan back then, it might make you one now.
100 Days to Indy
The CW
IndyCar launched its own take on Drive to Survive last season with 100 Days to Indy, an attempt to recapture the American audience that gravitated away from the once-popular racing series after a contentious fracture among leadership in the 1990s. Whereas F1 tries to encapsulate an entire season of racing in just 10 episodes, IndyCar's approach is far more focused, centering around the build-up to the Indy 500, the only part of IndyCar that remains a household name.
The six episodes introduce viewers to the main contenders before culminating with the race itself, and while Drive to Survive often relies on manufactured drama to make up for the lack of wheel-to-wheel battles, the unpredictability and competitiveness of IndyCar makes the spectacle feel much more genuine. This is bolstered by the episodes debuting around a week after each event takes place, keeping things fresh as the drama plays out in real life.
The series has been renewed for a second season, which kicks off on April 26 and airs on The CW. This year's show will undoubtedly follow last year's winner Josef Newgarden and reigning series champion Álex Palou, while also touching on stories like NASCAR victor Kyle Larson's attempt to capture the Borg-Warner trophy in a one-off appearance. Last season can viewed on The CW for free and will be added to Netflix on April 4.
Drama, with Cars
Nothing takes an automotive enthusiast out of a movie or TV show more than when the wrong car shows up. In contrast, there's nothing better than when the car on screen perfectly matches the character behind the wheel. Some of the best shows on streaming right now don't really have anything to do with cars themselves, but you'll love spotting the on-screen cameos.
The Gentlemen
Netflix, Amazon Prime
Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen is a fun criminal romp in the vein of his Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, featuring a cast of charming ne'er-do-wells. (How often do well? Ne'er.) There are plenty of fun supercars to spot, including a memorable car-shopping trip involving a Liberty Walk–modified McLaren, but perhaps the star of the show is an Austin-Healey 3000 that just radiates disreputable elegance.
Tokyo Vice
Max
Also set in the underworld, although in Japan at the end of the 1990s, HBO's Tokyo Vice draws you into the world of feuding Yakuza and their uneasy relationship with the police. Ansel Elgort's idealistic, bicycle-riding reporter is hard not to root for, even when he takes too many chances, and who doesn't want to see Ken Watanabe as a world-weary cop driving a vintage Datsun 280ZX (or rather, its Japanese home market equivalent, an S130 Fairlady)?
Hitoshi Ishida, the venerated and slightly old-fashioned head of the Chihara-Kai, is driven around in a discreet black Toyota Century. It's the older V-8 model, symbolizing traditional ways. Meantime, archvillain Shinzo Tozawa is most often shown being chauffeured in a Mercedes-Benz S-class, signifying his hunger for new ways and flashier wealth. Beyond the hero cars, there are plenty of hidden gems of the JDM golden age tucked away in the background.
At the beginning of Season Two, there's even a bōsōzoku motorcycle gang, with their characteristic wildly modified bikes. It's the kind of thing to have you pointing at the screen like Leo DiCaprio in Once upon a Time in Hollywood. Crack open the chips, get comfy on the couch, and keep your eyes peeled.
Coming Attraction
One more that looks interesting, but that we haven't yet watched.
Mud Madness
Discovery Channel
For those who like their racing off-road—way off-road—comes this series about UTV mud racing. It promises "custom vehicle builds," "deep-rooted rivalries," and a "wild social party scene." And mud. Lots and lots of mud. Is it sponsored by Tide? If it isn't, that seems like a missed opportunity. The series premieres April 9.
