The gameplay of Fast & Furious: Showdown focuses on cooperative driving and car combat. The game is centered around different missions, all centered around driving around in semi-destructible loops. These missions can range from a normal race to surviving a certain number of laps. In some missions, the character may need to hijack another vehicle by jumping from the top of their vehicle to the other. All the cars have health bars, and some feature nitro abilities.
The game can be played with an AI partner or in local cooperative play. There is no online gameplay. The gameplay varies from having 2 separate cars, to one person manning the turret while the other drives, to one person jumping out of the car and hijacking the other.