On October 15, Tesla finally showed the new Roadster, and it did not just drive onto a stage. It drove up a curved ramp until it was upside down, launched off the end, flipped in mid-air and landed on its wheels. Then it jumped over a row of Teslas and a semi truck. Within minutes the internet had a new favorite toy. Tesla posted the clip with the caption “Real life, baby.”
What actually happened?
The event took place at SpaceX’s rocket test site in McGregor, Texas, near Waco. It was supposed to happen on October 1 but got pushed back two weeks because of the weather. The trick behind the stunt: a fan system that sucks the car onto the ramp, plus cold-gas thrusters, basically super-high-pressure air, that push it into the air and spin it around.
The line from the stage that everyone clipped: “Flying cars are real.” After the landing, Elon Musk added a very honest “Well, it worked.”
Tesla’s other claims: 0 to 60 mph in under one second, a top speed above 230 mph and more than 300 miles of range. Those are Tesla’s numbers, not independent tests. Production is planned for 2028.
Want the whole show? Here’s Tesla’s full livestream of the event:
Wait, is it really a flying car?
Not really. It’s more like the world’s most expensive skateboard trick. The car hops, flips and lands, but it doesn’t cruise above traffic like in Back to the Future. The FAA told CBS News that the Roadster doesn’t meet its definition of an aircraft. And Tesla’s own website says the flying version is not approved for public roads.
There are three versions: “Performance” (a normal, very fast sports car), “Thrust” (with thrusters, $250,000 deposit) and “Rocket” (one seat, full flight system, invite only).
The best Tesla flying car memes
The most popular joke wasn’t about Tesla at all. It was about Rockstar Games.
Yes, we got flying cars in real life before GTA VI. Let that sink in.
Then there are the edits. Our favorite: the Roadster flipping straight over a DUI checkpoint.
Look closely at the police cars: Kitty Hawk. That’s the town famous for the Wright brothers’ first flight back in 1903. Whoever made this did their homework.
The second big theme: test driving the thing. Nobody wants to be the first one in the passenger seat.
The other memes all have the same energy:
- Left lane revenge: Everyone who has been stuck behind someone doing 52 in the fast lane watched that flip and saw a solution.
- The coffee problem: “My $10 coffee after I skipped the intersection.”
- Insurance: One X user summed it up with “Car insurers right now.”
- Traffic cops: How do you write a ticket for a car that’s in the air?
- Road signs: One X user made a fake road sign for Roadster kickflips. Others pointed out that highway signs hang high enough for trucks, not for flipping sports cars.
The real joke: the waiting
Here’s the part the memes keep coming back to. Tesla first showed the new Roadster in 2017. The promise back then: deliveries in 2020, for about $200,000, with a $50,000 reservation. Then it slipped to 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. Now production is planned for 2028.
So some fans have been waiting longer for their Roadster than it takes to finish high school. At least they got a cool video.
Our take
Is it useful? Not yet. Even Tesla bull Gene Munster called it “an engineering flex.” But as a meme machine, it’s perfect: a car doing a kickflip over a semi is the most internet thing a car company has ever done.
Got a better caption? Put it in our free meme maker, no watermark, no sign-up. Thrusters not included.
FAQ
Is the Tesla Roadster a flying car?
Not in the classic sense. It uses thrusters for short jumps and flips. The FAA says it doesn’t count as an aircraft, and the flying version isn’t approved for public roads.
When can you buy the new Tesla Roadster?
Tesla says production starts in 2028. Reservations are open, but the “Rocket” version with the full flight system is invite only.
What is the “flying cars before GTA VI” meme?
A joke that real life got flying cars before Rockstar released GTA VI, one of the most hyped (and most delayed) games of all time. Rockstar’s current release date is November 19, 2026.
Moral of the story: the future is here, it just has a 2028 delivery date.
Sources: CBS News, Fox Business, Yahoo Finance, Business Insider via AOL, Wikipedia. Featured image: still from Tesla’s official video on X.