Okay, I’m watching the Tesla Roadster livestream. The one we’ve been waiting for for 10 years. And it’s insane.
But not in a good way.
I was expecting the reveal to be a bunch of smoke and mirrors, like “We, Robot.” Like, instead of showing anything, they would just show a bunch of robots being controlled by people hiding somewhere backstage.
Well, we got smoke and mirrors. But even worse than I imagined.
The awkward countdown
As you know, the Tesla Roadster livestream was moved to October 15 at exactly 7:55 PM CT as a reference to “Back to the Future.” I went to the livestream at 5:55 PM PT and waited.
And waited.
It went one minute past…
I check X to see if it’s working for anyone else. I see something about a “towering, backwards curving ramp.” Apparently, some kinda stunt?
Two minutes now…
I notice people on X also getting errors. The fanboys are freaking out. I refresh my own livestream. Nothing.
Three minutes now.
It’s almost 6 PM.
161.5K of us idiots are watching through the livestream on X. 185K are watching on Tesla’s website. The word “Roadster” is just bouncing around like an old DVD screen. Still nothing.
Finally.
Two random white guys are on stage. They talk about how the original Roadster was a real car, and it’s what got them interested in working for Tesla all those years ago. But Tesla has come a long way in 20 years.
I don’t know who they are. They call out CEO Elon Musk.
“You’re gonna see some crazy stuff tonight,” he says. “We need an audience to prove it’s not AI.”
He says a lot of boasting about his own companies, SpaceX and Tesla. There’s awkward laughing. Forced banter. Musk runs his hands through his hair. He seems uncomfortable.
It’s clearly scripted, but they keep pretending it’s going to maybe work, maybe not. Luckily, the Roadster demo won’t kill anyone because it’s autonomous. Not the production one. No. That will be the last manually driven Tesla vehicle.
This is cut off by a 10-second countdown.
Pre-recorded, possibly CGI footage, not a real demo
After a bunch of dramatic footage, we see the car.
It’s honestly a pretty cool-looking car. It has a futuristic, simple styling with some wedge-shaped components. I can dig it.
Oh, and there’s that ramp thing people “spotted” right before the demo. Interesting that it wasn’t being built for days. It just appeared right before the demo.
But you can tell this is a video. This is not actually happening in front of the audience. The Roadster drives up this curved ramp, showing off its insane G-Force. Then, it leaps off the top, does a barrel roll in the sky, and thrusts forward. It then hovers above teh ground with its gas thrusters. Then it lands.
“Flying cars are real,” one of the random white guys says.
I don’t believe it. I’m sorry. This was a video. This was not a real-time demonstration. It’s not even in front of the audience. It pans away to some alleged backroom, which I believe is actually just a pre-recorded, altered video.
Anyone who believes it is… They gotta be a moron.
Welp, there it goes again. Doing that goofy little spiral in the air over a Cybertruck and a Semi.
Well, I just looked on X to see if people are actually believing it. I just can’t wrap my mind around people believing it. I just can’t accept it.
A tweet from “Autism Capital” states: “NEW: The Tesla Roadster *literally* does a flying kickflip over the entire Tesla fleet.”
Am I in the Twilight Zone here?
Musk claims that the Roadster will genuinely fly. And you can just do that whenever you want! And it’s road legal!
This doesn’t make any sense. Would it really be legal to just start flying on the Los Angeles highway to get past standstill traffic? I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around this.
According to the Tesla Roadster sales page, the “Thrust” trim is “limited,” and the “Rocket” trim is “invite only.” That sorta explains how they’ll get away with not actually shipping out a flying car. It doesn’t really have to exist if nobody can have it.
“You may not want to fly,” Musk says. “But downforce let’s you corner incredibly well.
“It looks like you’re breaking physics; it sticks to the ground so hard. It’s going to crush every track record that has ever existed.”
Another demonstration shows the Roadster accelerating fast enough to reach 60 miles per hour in 1 second.
Musk says this isn’t fast enough. Then they do a “real-time” demo (still not on the main stage, and in some super-dark area behind the scenes, again) that hits 60 seconds in 0.81 seconds.
“We anticipate it being able to do better than that,” Musk says. But why would we ever need that? Who needs to go that fast?
When the Tesla Roadster is done being silly in some strange backstage area (likely a pre-recorded video), it rolls onto the stage to actually be in front of the audience for the first time. This is when we get some explanation, but not really enough.
We don’t really get a ton of in-depth information on how a car can fly, jump, spin in the air, and fart itself to 60 mph in 1 second. We are told it has an advanced ultra-high-pressure air tank that recharges automatically. We are told it will automatically direct this air out of the four exhaust-pipe-looking things in the back, depending on what you wanna do. Which I guess includes racing at over 250 miles per hour on the track with incredible downforce or attempting to fly around.
We know this is SpaceX technology. But we don’t really know many of the actual details. None of the nitty-gritty information was really shared.
Configurations
– Performance: road ready, seats 2
Active aerodynamics & multi-mode suction system for next-level performance on & off the track
– Thrust: race ready, seats 2
Multi-mode suction system paired w/ rear-mounted cold-gas thrusters that enable 0–60 in <1 second
– Rocket: air ready, seats 1
Multi-mode suction system plus perimeter-mounted cold-gas thrusters supporting forward & upward acceleration plus lateral rotational movement. So…yes, it can fly
Range >300 miles
Top speed up to >230mph (Rocket)0-60
Performance (<1.6)
Thrust (<0.9)
Rocket (<0.59)Reserve now –
https://t.co/EHpRpNx5QA— Tesla (@Tesla) October 16, 2026
When is the Roadster finally coming? And how much is it?
At the end, the three guys on stage pretend not to know if they have anything further to say. Not sure what that’s all about.
The audience, who I sorta believe may be part of this script at this point, call out: “When is it coming out!?”
Musk says that it will enter production in 2028. “Actually. For real.”
“How much is it!?”
This is ignored.
Instead, Musk says we should take another look at the Roadster doing a ridiculous, silly barrel roll in the air in that strange, dark back room (which is clearly pre-filmed).
The reveal ends with Musk saying they will attempt to do some Evil Knievel stunts with the Roadster next time. Like jumping over a body of water.
I check X one more time.
Yep, guys really believe this is real.
“Jaw dropped watching this live,” one guy said.
“He said they’re going to try for a Mach 1.5. That’s 383 mph!!!” another exclaimed.
“Just reserved it.”
Is nobody questioning the physics at all? Is nobody questioning the pre-filmed footage in a dark room rather than driving it in front of the audience?
I think people either blindly believe anything Musk says at this point (to their own detriment) or they just want it to be true because they already paid $50,000 for it.
@esjesjesj You’re the rube. I’m going to enjoy the advancements of a car jumping over stuff and practically flying. Idk when your childhood died but Jesus Christ dude. It was awesome and you know it, now go drink a decaf and stfu
— Jackson Williams (@BigMikeWilliams) October 16, 2026
I mean… I want it to be real, too. A flying car that does random flips in the air? That’s hilarious and cool. Why would I want that to be fake? But… It wasn’t a live demo. It was smoke and mirrors. Literally.
This was, unfortunately, not proof that the Roadster can fly, nor that it even exists beyond a concept. I’d have to see it actually drive in front of people, outside, in daylight. Until then, I don’t believe it.
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