So why is Paul Walker NOT in the new 'Fast and Furious' ride?

In all the excitement about the totally cool Fast and Furious -- Supercharged ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, one important element was glaringly missing.

Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Dwayne Johnson and Luke Evans were all there in full hologram-like glory.

But no Paul Walker a.k.a. Brian Connor from the franchise for the thrill ride which opened officially to the public Wednesday.

The franchise star died in a car accident in November 2013 during filming of Furious 7. The filmmakers finished the film using Walker's existing footage, computer generated images and the help of his look-alike brothers.

We talked to Chick Russell, executive producer of Supercharged. He said it was not possible to include Walker with the highly intensive hologram-like process of shooting for the attraction.
"We started our production after Paul had passed away. Unlike the film series we hadn't shot any of the film, nor did we have any material available to us. When we shoot for a theme park it's a completely different experience. It's all specialized work for a thrill ride environment."
Vin Diesel dedicated the day to his friend "Pablo" from the podium. We asked him if Walker was missed in the experience. He said:
"I have to believe he's there in spirit. Every second the saga continues it's in his name. Any expansion of this mythology is in his name. He's a part of it."

It should be noted that franchise regular Ludacris is also not part of Supercharged.

We asked Russell about that too. He said:
"We had the people we needed to tell our story and didn't need a larger cast."