Badass Driver/Playing With

Basic Trope: An astonishingly good car driver.

• Straight: During the climatic car chase, Alice manages to run down a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 in a 1986 Ford Sierra RS Cosworth.
• Exaggerated:
  • During the climatic car chase, Alice manages to run down a Enzo Ferrari in a 1981 Cadillac Fleetwood.
  • Alternatively, Alice wins a Nascar race on a unicycle.
• Downplayed: Alice is a better driver than most, but other characters in the series (like Bob) are better still.
• Justified: Alice is a retired Formula One racer.
• Inverted: Alice refuses to drive faster than 20 mph under any circumstances.
• Subverted: The film goes into slow-motion as Alice slides dramatically around the first corner ... and smashes into the wall.
• Double Subverted: ...which puts her car into a new slide for the next corner.
• Parodied: Alice and her equally-skilled rival engage in the car-equivalent of a swordfight to the death, clashing sparks off of their respective fenders and yelling horrible puns like 'en gearde!'
• Deconstructed: Alice spends all her spare time and money driving her cars, to the detriment of her personal life.
• Reconstructed: Alice spends much of her spare time and money driving with the members of the local sports car club.
• Zig Zagged: Alice is an incredibly good driver in her car -- put her behind the wheel of anything else and she's useless.
• Averted:
  • The protagonists are all children too young to drive.
  • Alternatively, the protagonists are all drivers of average ability and personality.
• Enforced: The plot centers around a race.
• Lampshaded: "We have to compete at a track day? Alice will be happy."
• Invoked: Alice was hired for The Caper as a getaway driver.
• Exploited: ...for an unrelated job, so the police would be distracted trying to run her down while the actual crime took place elsewhere.
• Defied: Alice is a fine driver, but local traffic laws and vast differences in car performance make this a very minor advantage.
• Discussed: "Trust Alice with this job. I wouldn't be surprised if she jumps three broken bridges and bootleg-turns into a parallel park just getting you to your destination."
• Conversed: "So what does Alice do in her off-time, moonlight as a stunt valet?"
• Played for Drama: Due to her skills, Alice is forced to participate in a high-stakes, top-secret, extremely dangerous race in which finishing in the last four places has a bomb in your car go off. She survives the race.

---

Back to Badass Driver.