Continuity mistake: Dom smashes his Charger into the side of the silver Chevrolet 4x4 and damages the front of the car, yet in all following shots, the damage has gone.
Continuity mistake: During the final chase just before everyone goes into the tunnels, Dom's Charger gets a glancing hit on its back right-hand corner, and you can see the panel damage, but later the damage disappears.
Continuity mistake: When Vin Diesel sits at the dinner table to eat Chinese take out food, his sister asks him to pray before eating. Vin Diesel takes a gulp of the beer, which starts to foam up and spill. Next shot during prayer, there is no foam on the beer. (01:08:25)
Continuity mistake: After the theft of the tankers, Dom and his gang attend a party where Dom tells Letty that he wants her to quit because it's too dangerous. Watch Letty's right shoulder as it is alternatively bare and covered by her white blouse. (00:10:25)
Continuity mistake: When Dom slams his black Buick Grand National into the side of the Petroleum tanker to get the coupling to break, the entire side of the car is stoved in, and the rear axle is seriously bent as evidenced by the angle of the back wheel. All subsequent shots, however, show the wheel intact and the damage to the side as slight denting.
Continuity mistake: When Brian and the runner fall onto the car, they fall in such a way that their heads are towards the rear of the car. When we see them "inside" the car, their heads are by the steering wheel. (00:13:45)
Continuity mistake: The left side of the spoiler on Brian's car is broken when "Ghetto Smurf's" orange car rolls off the bridge. However a few seconds later when Brian drifts through the final turn the spoiler is fixed before being broken again in the next shot. (00:42:45)
Continuity mistake: In the final scene Mia is driving an NSX. The aerial disappears and reappears throughout this scene. (01:34:00)
Continuity mistake: The tractor trailer rams the rear of the Buick twice. Just before the second impact, we can see the rear bumper of the Buick is hanging well below its normal location and the sides of the car show crumpled damage. Moments later, the car spins around alongside the trailer and the rear of the car is undamaged. (00:03:45)
Continuity mistake: When Brian is telling Mia why he let Dominic go in the first movie, Mia's necklace goes from over her shirt (on her right shoulder) to under the shirt and on her neck correctly. (01:09:30)
Continuity mistake: Moments before Letty leaps off the trailer onto the hood of the Buick, a quick shot (just as Dom begins to say "You gotta jump!") shows the hood is already damaged from a previous attempt of this same stunt, despite all the preceding shots showing no such damage. (00:05:35)
Continuity mistake: During the start of the chase in the grey Subaru Impreza, its sidelights vary on and off.
Continuity mistake: When Dom steers into the path of the tractor-trailer to slow it down, the actual swerving of the Buick occurs immediately in front of the tractor, just a few feet ahead of it. As the Buick stops wiggling in the next shot, we can see the tractor is far behind the Buick instantly. (00:01:30)
Continuity mistake: When Phoenix gets Braga out the Subaru at the end, the 2 cars are close together. Dom then appears and crashes into the Subaru, which doesn't move. When the cops show up, the distance between Phoenix's car and the Subaru has increased massively. (01:30:20 - 01:33:15)
Continuity mistake: During the first tunnel sequence we see there are no lights in the tunnel. There is one shot, from the side, of all the cars going past right to left. When the yellow car goes past, a light is reflected in the paint. (00:56:00)
Continuity mistake: When we see Brian running across the roof, his tie is over his shoulder. Camera cuts to a view from behind and the tie is not visible. (00:11:50)
Continuity mistake: When Letty says to Dom they will work something out, her hands are on his face. Camera cuts and they're on his neck. (00:10:20)
Continuity mistake: We see the last fuel tanker split from the lorry and it then explodes on its way down the road. However, just a couple of seconds later, the tractor unit and other tanker are a lot further on. (00:06:20)
Continuity mistake: When Dom and the woman are talking about going after Braga, her hair is billowing in some shots and not in others. These are instant cuts. (01:20:35)
Continuity mistake: When Brian and Dom are fighting, Dom throws Brian into a table of objects that fall around them. Camera changes and they have disappeared. (01:00:00)
Chosen answer: It's a slightly tricky one to answer because the movie doesn't give very many clues. What we do know for a fact is the events at the start during and up to the conclusion of the Petroleum tanker heists was set before Tokyo Drift as evidenced by Dom speaking to Han with a view to returning back to Tokyo. After that it gets a little fuzzy. Some people claim the entire movie is before Tokyo Drift, but that simply cannot be the case as there are lots of 2008/2009 model cars around the movie, so the general consensus is the very start is before Tokyo Drift, and the time when Dom comes out of travelling/hiding and gets the phone call that Letty is dead is now after Tokyo Drift.
GalahadFairlight
This is not right. The entire movie takes place before "Tokyo Drift", as that is where Han dies. He is still around for the next two films and then dies in the seventh where events catch up with "Tokyo Drift" and then continues where it left off.
Yeah, Han's not dead either, he's back in the 9th movie.