History Main / UniversalDriversLicense

* ''VideoGame/FrontMission'' frequently depicts single characters piloting tanks, but this trope really comes into play for ''VideoGame/FrontMission3''. In this particular game, you have pilots capable of not only driving their usual [[RealRobot Wanzers]], but they also apparently can pilot tanks, armored trains, helicopters, and [[HumongousMecha mobile weapons]] just as easily. [[JokeCharacter One character]] even pilots a methane-powered pickup truck with legs.

* ''VideoGame/FrontMission'' frequently depicts single characters piloting tanks, but this trope really comes into play for Front Mission 3. In this particular game, you have pilots capable of not only driving their usual [[RealRobot Wanzers]], but they also apparently can pilot tanks, armored trains, helicopters, and [[HumongousMecha mobile weapons]] just as easily. [[JokeCharacter One character]] even pilots a methane-powered pickup truck with legs.

[[folder:Comics]]

-->"You should have told me you couldn't drive this tank!"
-->"You should've asked."

* Donald Duck in the DisneyDucksComicUniverse has had so many jobs that he's a fully competent driver, sailor, and pilot...at least, that is, when the RuleOfFunny isn't in effect and causes something to set off is HairTriggerTemper. In fact, before the creation of Launchpad [=McQuack=] in the animated universe, Donald was the one that flew/sailed Scrooge to many of his adventure destinations. Individual cases tend to be justified, but combined they reach absurd heights: He was in the marine, so he can sail. He can drive as is to be expected from a middle-class adult. He's been a train enthusiast several times, so he would know a bit about how they work. It's unclear where he learned to pilot a plane.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. Every race has its own favored mount, from the humans' horses to the trolls' raptors, and originally this trope was averted since each animal had its own separate riding skill that you had to purchase. This made sense since the mounts are all completely different animals with their own needs, temperaments, and riding techniques, and the gnomes' mechanostrider isn't an animal at all but an animal-shaped motor vehicle that you have to pilot. However, a later patch did away with separate riding skills; instead, your riding skill determines the ''speed'' of your mount rather than its species. While not the most realistic, it did open the door to the myriad of flying mounts available post-''Burning Crusade''.

* The list of varied vehicles Film/JamesBond has ''personally'' used throughout his movies is stunning. Cars, trucks, [[Film/AViewToAKill a fire engine]], motorcycles, [[Film/GoldenEye tanks]], snowmobiles, motorboats, [[Film/DieAnotherDay hovercraft]], [[Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice gyrocopters]], helicopters, light aircraft, fighter jets, submarines, and so on. The training course for double-0 agents must have one heck of a driver's exam. The one aversion to this trope is ''Film/{{Moonraker[}}'', where Bond understandably doesn't know how to pilot a space shuttle and needs [[GirlOfTheWeek Dr. Goodhead]] for that.

* The list of varied vehicles Film/JamesBond has ''personally'' used throughout his movies is stunning. Cars, trucks, [[Film/AViewToAKill a fire engine]], motorcycles, [[Film/GoldenEye tanks]], snowmobiles, motorboats, [[Film/DieAnotherDay hovercraft]], [[Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice gyrocopters]], helicopters, light aircraft, fighter jets, submarines, a [[Film/{{Thunderball}} jetpack]], [[Film/DiamondsAreForever a moon buggy]] and even [[Film/{{Moonraker}} a space shuttle]]. The training course for double-0 agents must have one heck of a driver's exam.

* ''Disney/{{Zootopia}}'': Despite her being a police officer, the ability to start and drive a subway car is apparently on Judy's already impressive list of skills, a fact which [[SarcasticDevotee Nick]] wastes no time [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]].

* Donald Duck in the DisneyDucksComicUniverse has had so many jobs that he's a fully competent driver, sailor, and pilot...at least, that is, when the RuleOfFunny isn't in effect and causes something to set off is HairTriggerTemper. In fact, before the creation of Launchpad [=McQuack=] in the animated universe, Donald was the one that flew/sailed Scrooge to many of his adventure destinations.

* Used in one ''ComicBook/XWingSeries'' comic. In the first arc, the agent Winter gets in an ally's X-Wing, and it takes off because its owner told its R2 unit to be somewhere to cause a distraction. She then takes control and shoots down the squadron of TIE fighters, including the one with the owner in it, and yet at the end of the arc she's told that she's not flight-qualified on an X-Wing and will have to ride in a shuttle. Stackpole was reportedly quite unhappy with this arc. Winter did have PhotographicMemory, and admittedly knowing how to do something and having the necessary paperwork to prove you can are two different things, but that's still a hell of a PlotHole.

* In ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}}: Videogame/RogueSquadron'', [[PlayerCharacter Luke and Wedge]] can fly anything they have access to. Whether it be Rebel spacecraft that one would logically assume they were trained to fly at some point, Imperial ships (one mission has Wedge steal an Imperial Shuttle and, optionally, a TIE Fighter as a stealthy means of getting to the shuttle), the Millenium Falcon (which is a personal vehicle of Han and not a Rebel craft), the Slave I (Boba Fett's personal ship), or even an inexplicably flying Buick!

* In ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}}: Videogame/RogueSquadron'', [[PlayerCharacter Luke and Wedge]] can fly anything they have access to. Whether it be Rebel spacecraft that one would logically assume they were trained to fly at some point, Imperial fighters (one mission has Wedge steal an Imperial Shuttle and, optionally, a TIE Fighter as a stealthy means of getting to the shuttle), the Millenium Falcon (which is a personal vehicle of Han and not a Rebel craft), the Slave I (Boba Fett's personal ship), or even an inexplicably flying Buick!

* In ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}}: Videogame/RogueSquadron'', [[PlayerCharacter Luke and Wedge]] can fly anything they have access to. Whether it be Rebel spacecraft that one would logically assume they were trained to fly at some point, Imperial fighters (an optional sidequest lets Wedge hijack one), the Millenium Falcon (which is a personal vehicle of Han and not a Rebel craft), the Slave I (Boba Fett's personal ship), or even an inexplicably flying Buick!

* In ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Legends}}: Videogame/RogueSquadron'', [[PlayerCharacter Luke and Wedge]] can fly anything they have access to. Whether it be Rebel spacecraft that one would logically assume they were trained to fly at some point, Imperial fighters, the Millenium Falcon (which is a personal vehicle of Han and not a Rebel craft), the Slave I (Boba Fett's personal ship), or even an inexplicably flying Buick!

* WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb can drive nearly any sort of vehicle that isn't a car, being too young to have an actual driver's licence. They handle those by remote control.

** Also in "Film/TheForceAwakens" is [[ActionGirl Rey]], who explicitly admits to never having flown the Millenium Falcon, wastes no time decimating the much smaller and maneuverable Tie Fighters chasing them, supposedly piloted by elite First Order pilots. Even she seems confused by this.

* If you want to become a chauffeur for the European Parliament, they require you to be licenced to drive pretty much anything with wheels, including HGVs.

** And in the early days of licenses, the only thing you had to do to get one was to ask for it (well around here anyway). Not to mention they weren't too specific with vehicles until way later, which meant you could basically drive anything considered "lower" than the vehicle you applied for, and a lot of people just asked for a truck license just in case. Then there's also the stick/automatic distinction.

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'''s Solid Snake is so much of a badass, the moment he get his hand on a derelict for 9 years Metal Gear REX, the damn thing moves faster and is far more efficient than it has ever been. In [=MGS1=], Liquid could barely make it walk, in [=MGS4=] Snake make it dance effortlessly, and Humongous Mecha aren't exactly the easiest thing to pilot.

** In one instance someone asked him how much about the Vincent motorcycle he was writing. The talk show host demonstrated his knowledge by opening up the oil tank and dipping a finger in it. This would cause severe burns in most vehicles after use, but Leno knew the oil in the Vincent would be at about room temperature, even after a long ride.

* Averted in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'', which is one of the [[AffectionateParody few plot elements]] that the movie [[PlayedForDrama plays for drama.]] While Ted Striker ''is'' a pilot, he only ever flew single-engine planes in [[GreatOffscreenWar The War]], not a four-engine jumbo jet like the titular airplane. Because of this, he accidentally blows out an engine because he wasn't watching the oil flow (which gets him [[WhatTheHellHero called out by ground control]], and while he successfully lands the plane without significantly injuring the passengers, he has to be talked through it over the radio, and he ends up missing the gate by a huge distance and ripping off the landing gear.

** Joseph tells [=JoJo=] while flying the plane: "I've crashed three planes. Ever met someone who's done that?" A nonplussed [=JoJo=] replies [[CrowningMomentOfFunny "I'm never flying with you again."]]

* Justified in ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'', where one of the title character's cybernetic enhancements gives him the ability to drive any vehicle flawlessly, which allows him to get a lucrative job as a racecar driver during a sabbatical.