Universal Driver's License: Difference between revisions

* Justified in ''[[The Matrix]]'', where learning to pilot/drive any vehicle is simply a matter of having the relevant knowledge [[Instant Expert|uploaded into your brain.]]

* In ''[[Independence Day]]'', a fighter pilot is able to fly an alien spacecraft with a relative minimum of fumbling:

'''David:''' [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Yes yes yes. Yes, without the "oops". (points forward)]]''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|That]]''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|way.]] }}

** Of course, the director's cut explicitly shows Steven learning to fly the craft, or at least sitting at its controls, long before he makes the offer to fly it; his confusion with the controls therefore stems more from [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!|not being used to them]] than outright ignorance. It's still a dangerous proposition, but not nearly as foolhardy as it comes off in the theatrical cut.

* Justified in ''[[The Fifth Element]]''. At one point, it's explained that Corben's training and experience in his former military unit qualifies him in the operation of a list of vehicles that extends to several pages.

* In ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]] [[The Movie]]'', a bunch of kids and teens travel to a construction site via monorail. Later, they figure out how to use a fire engine.

* In the cheese-tastic 1980 ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|Flash Gordon]]'' movie, Flash is in a floating city under bombardment. He falls down a chute and finds a Hawkman rocket cycle. Despite having never laid eyes on one before (what with him being a football player from late '70s Earth), he immediately knows what it is, how to use it and even knows to put up the safety bar.

* In ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'', set 1000 years in the future, a group of now cave-dwelling humans come across a group of Harrier jump-jets, from still miraculously working, after some second hand experience from books and a few days with a flight simulator, also miraculously working, they learn to fly them to defeat the group of Aliens currently controlling the planet. These humans had no education whatsoever, only one human was partly educated by the aliens yet still managed to learn to read English. In the original novel there are no Harriers: the bad guy teaches the protagonist how to pilot alien aircraft and the protagonist, in turn, teaches other humans.

 

* ''[[GURPS]]'' has assorted "Vehicle Skills", which requires the PC to buy separate skills for each vehicle type, but also has "Drive!", which works like the Universal Driver's License and is only recommended for use in "cinematic" games.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]'' both subverts this trope and plays it straight. There are separate skills for different kinds of vehicles. It's easier to fly a plane if you don't know how to fly a plane but do know how to drive; it's much easier if you actually have some flying experience. But then, from 3rd edition, "for convenience, Shadowrun assumes that characters can automatically accomplish basic vehicle maneuvers, such as... taking the old helicopter for a little sightseeing hop." So apparently your characters do have a universal driver's license but then forget everything when asked to do something more challenging than moving and stopping.

* ''[[Time Master]]'' used the universal drivers license. If you were originally from 1920's Chicago and learned to drive a Model T Ford, you could use the same skill roll to drive a late 20th century 18 wheeler, a 30th century hovercraft or a 45th century mecha. Possibly all in the same scenario, this was a time travel game after all.

 

* ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'' [[Playing with a Trope|plays with this trope]]. You, as the gamer, need a little training to handle vehicles like tanks and helicopters, but once you get the hang of it you can use ''any'' enemy vehicles lying around, (no matter which character you are currently controlling and no matter whether or not that ''character itself'' has any training for it). In certain missions, if you manage get your hands on an anti-aircraft ''Shilka'', it's pretty much a [[Lightning Bruiser]] that can single-handedly win the mission. Because of its four [[Gatling Good|gatling cannons]] that can fire on full-automatic to take out '''anything''' the game throws at you - infantry, RPG soldiers, vehicles, tanks, and even helicopters, which you can catch on radar from an unbelievable distance. Some missions will stop you from mounting certain vehicles (especially helicopters) to avoid this trope.

** Not only can Carl Johnson pilot airplanes perfectly the first time he clambers into the cockpit, he also learns how to fly a Harrier jet just as fast (all of his previous experience likely being little more than a P-51, an Apache, and a Learjet) and learn how to properly operate all of the weapons systems well enough to defeat several experienced pilots in a dogfight and destroy boats sitting in a lake with heat-seaking missiles.

** In ''The Ballad Of Gay Tony'', it's noted that Luis took a two-week piloting class once and the license can be seen.

** Although played straight with Leela a few seconds later. Apparently knowing "how to drive stick" is all the knowledge you need to pilot an inter-stellar spaceship.

** Subverted again in "Insane in the Mainframe," when [[Heroic Sociopath|Bender]] and [[Ax Crazy|Roberto]] are escaping from a robot insane asylum. They run into a barn, and begin to fly out in an old airplane. The plane rises into the air, turns, and crashes into the barn. Bender and Roberto are promptly seen emerging from the wreckage, continuing their escape on foot.

 

== Real Life ==

[[Category:Vehicle Tropes]]

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]