To find the unit rate in the equation \(65t = 260\), we first need to understand what the equation represents. Here, \(65\) represents the speed (in miles per hour, assuming \(t\) is in hours), and \(t\) is the time in hours.
To solve for \(t\), we can rearrange the equation as follows:
\[ t = \frac{260}{65} \]
Calculating the right side:
\[ t = 4 \]
This means it took Steve 4 hours to drive to the beach.
Now, the unit rate is simply the speed, which we can identify from the coefficient of \(t\) in the equation \(65t\). Therefore, the unit rate is:
\[ 65 \text{ miles per hour} \]
So, the unit rate in the equation is 65 miles per hour.