A majority of the car stunts in the film were done practically using car shells, with hardly any visual effects used. The body shell for the Koenigsegg, a $4.6 million supercar, cost roughly $300,000.
Executive producer Steven Spielberg was binge watching Breaking Bad (2008), and decided along with director Scott Waugh that Aaron Paul shouldn't play the villain, but the lead instead. Aaron Paul said during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003).
The police helicopters seen numerous times are actually the helicopters used for aerial shots, with the camera rig removed in post-production. This did not only end up being cheaper than renting two helicopters, but also made storing the helicopters on the ground easier, an important point in the commonly used rural locations.
The Mustang featured in the movie is a 2013 Shelby GT500 Super Snake Wide Body. The Shelby GT500 Super Snake has a 5.8-liter supercharged V8 in two different tunes, with one producing 662 horsepower and one producing 850 HP. The car in the final scene before the credits, is the 2015 Mustang GT prototype.
The Bugatti Veyron in the De Leon race at the end of the film, is painted to look like the Veyron Super Sport World Record Edition, but is, in fact, a standard Veyron. One of the telltales is the roof air scoops, which sit on top of the roof on the standard Veyron (as shown in the film), whereas the Super Sport's scoops are incorporated into the roof itself.