Pixar’s Cars was the studio’s first feature film to use what setting extensively?

Pixar’s Cars extensively uses the American Southwest as its setting.

The film’s desert roads, mesas, dry landscapes, and historic roadside businesses place much of the story in a fictionalized American Southwest. Radiator Springs sits along the old Route 66 corridor, allowing the filmmakers to combine a vehicle-centered world with recognizable landscapes from the western United States.

Pixar’s research trips along Route 66 influenced both the setting and the town’s story. The filmmakers studied roadside architecture, signs, natural formations, and communities affected when interstate highways redirected travelers. These details help explain why Radiator Springs feels like a place with a past rather than a generic race location.

Cars was Pixar’s seventh feature film and was released in 2006. Its landscapes were also important technically: the studio developed new rendering approaches for effects such as dust, smoke, and realistic reflections on painted vehicle surfaces.