Revealing mistake: When Brian is racing to the start of the first race, we see him do a double corner in an S shape. If you look at how the car handles, you can tell the shot has been sped up to make it appear like he is driving faster. (00:04:15)
Revealing mistake: At the end of the first race, when Brian and the other guy prepare to jump the bridge, it cuts to Brian who shifts gears and puts on the accelerator. Look closely at the "Revs" counter (next to the speedometer), it is showing almost 0 revs on a car that's moving at very high speed. (00:11:30)
Revealing mistake: When the cars are in the air, they are CGI. They have a line around them. (00:11:50)
Revealing mistake: After the first race, when Tej walks over to Brian with a bunch of people, there is a girl in a orange and black top, and as she walks towards Brian, she is looking directly at the place where the camera is supposed to be and backs away, so the camera can pull in for the shot. (00:13:10)
Revealing mistake: When Rome and Paul are fighting at the derby, in some shots you can see Paul's stunt double. (00:21:00)
Revealing mistake: When Brian is spinning his Evo around on the highway to pay Rome back, we can see at that one brief interior shot that there are no cars in the background. (Paul Walker did that spin for real on an empty freeway, but of course he did that with no cars around). (00:30:50)
Revealing mistake: When Rome says "Let's see if you still got it, Brian," you can see skid marks on the road from previous takes. (00:36:20)
Revealing mistake: When Suki and Tej are being booked for speeding when they took Brian's and Roman's cars, the police officer next to them should be writing on his notepad, but instead the words are already written and he is just moving the pen over these words. (01:24:25)
Revealing mistake: When Brian and Rome are going to rescue Monica, they are talking the whole time as to what next to do. We see several edited-in backgrounds at every close-up, and in one of Rome's close-ups we see a road pointing straight at the car. In other close-ups of Rome from the same angle, we see a river. The road that can be seen in the one close-up is not possible.
Chosen answer: The detective was tortured because Verone needed a window of time without any police presence and the detective refused to allow it. The girl is just some random hottie that works for Verone.
Greg Dwyer