Coincidentally, I had a Nissan Maxima that was kitted out like the first movie. In Philly, they used to have 2 places in the early-mid 2000s where they raced cars; Essington Ave by the airport and Roosevelt Boulevard up northeast by Red Lion Road. I used to go to both, but I never raced though. My car looked fast, but wasn't fast.
A couple of times I went out, there would legit be a couple hundred people out there, especially Essington Ave because there really wasn't much pedestrian traffic because it was mostly junkyard out that way and it was roughly a mile long, so perfect distance. The police believe it or not really wouldn't fukk with it unless it got too crazy; like the donuts and speeding stretched beyond Essington Ave. But when the police DID come... that shyt was pandemonium. 2-3 cop cars and 100 ricers flying down the street only to get stuck in traffic not too far away.
The culture died down by 2010, folks got too reckless. I actually had a friend in high school who ended up going to trial because he was racing someone and the other person hit and killed someone.
It was fun, but it wasn't like the movies. They made shyt look sexy in the movies. Real life, it's just a bunch of nerds with cars. Unless you're Uber into cars, you didn't miss shyt.