Originally Posted by
Brontosaurus
To obtain my American driver's license in the late 1970s, everything was done with an automatic transmission. Around two weeks after I received it, my father took me to a parking lot to learn how to drive his Volkswagen Beetle with a stick-shift. Took me a couple of days like this to get the hang of it. Simple as that, no new license needed. Once learned, it was hard to go back. Sort of like returning to carts after shaving with a straight. I like that in France, most cars have a standard (manual) transmission. But like in Britain, if one passes an exam with an automatic transmission one still has to pass an exam for the manual transmission. I shiver to think what would happen if I sought to obtain a French driver's license (I have an American one that is recognized in France). After some 40+ years of driving, I'd probably fail the test given all the minute conditions they would have in place. Driving schools are an incredible racket here.