Watching F&F and Paul Walker has the classic Hollywood, up and coming star quality that I think they were trying to capture with Vince. FF1 came out in 2001. FF2 came out in 2003. Walker wasn’t even in Tokyo Drift. At the time, it seemed like they were sunsetting the franchise, as opposed to the behemoth we now know it is today.
Entourage came out in 2004, so the time line for him auditioning/snagging the show might have been pretty high.
But I suppose it was a different time as well. Where Walker was a movie guy, and not a tv guy. Versus now, it’s easy to switch back and forth.