There are many questions that gamers are asking these days. Questions like, “What are video games?”, “When will there be an Xbox controller that I can kiss with tongue?”, and even “Google Image search Naked Doctor Eggman?” I can’t answer any of them, but there is one that I can try to answer. It’s the one in the headline, the Gex question.
Gex is the titular protagonist from the triple-entry series of the same name. When it comes to age-old gamer questions about Gex, there is one question that dominates the conversation:
Would Gex would be legally allowed to drive as a resident of New South Wales, Australia?
I mean, what else would they be asking, right? Surely not anything to do with where Gex is, whether or not he has any games in the works, or where he went after Squeenix sold off Crystal Dynamics.
No! Nobody is asking about that, I assure you! Everybody is asking if Gex would be eligible for a full licence in the state of New South Wales!! And thanks to the guidance of the Services NSW website and the internet’s knowledge of Gex, I believe I am equipped to answer this question!
What would Gex need to get a driver’s license in New South Wales?
Now, let’s be realistic. To get your full driver’s licence (the yellow one) in New South Wales, you need to have held your P2 provisional licence (The Green P’s) for at least two years. In order to get your P2 provisional licence, you need to have held your P1 provisional licence (The Red P’s) for at least a year. To get your P1 provisional licence, there are two scenarios that both require a learner’s licence but may not include other requirements.
There are a few requirements that show up in every single licence level list, so I’m going to get them out of the way right now:
- Pass an eyesight test: Multiple sources, including Anole Annals and Broad Institute, state that green anoles (the species of lizard that Gex is according to the Gex wiki) have excellent eyesight. Therefore, I have no double in my mind that Gex would be able to pass an eyesight test.
- Pay the licence and test fees: Gex is a millionaire thanks to his late great-uncle Charlie leaving him his fortune.
Now that we have that out of the way, the first big thing we have to determine is whether or not Gex would take the route of logging at least 120 hours of driving time, including at least 20 hours of night driving, on a learner licence, or if he would simply get his learner’s after completing the Driver Knowledge Test and then go straight for the P1 provisional licence. To determine this, we need to know Gex’s age.
Is Gex old enough to get a driver’s license in New South Wales?
Gex’s actual canonical age is a bit tricky. The Gex Gecko page of the Great Characters Wiki will tell you that Gex is in his ’20s’, which is useful information in confirming that he would be able to apply for his learner licence (you have to be at least 16 years of age), but doesn’t help when it comes to whether or not he’d be able to go right into his P1 provisional licence after getting his learner’s.
If you simply search ‘Gex Age’ on Google, for example, it comes up with 29 years old. I wondered how Google came to that conclusion, as it provided no source. I first assumed that this was due to the search engine assuming I was asking how old the game series was, but even that wouldn’t make sense as the first game came out in April 1995, which would make it 28 years old. Also, that would mean that Gex is zero years old in the first game, which is clearly not true as he can talk in full sentences and he knows who Frasier Crane is.
It was then that I realised Google was not referring to Gex the Gecko at all, but instead referring to Queensland-based Rocket League caster and owner of the 1NE eSports team Ryan “GEX” McDougall, who was born on December 31st, 1993, according to his Liquipedia page. This was not the right Gex, and therefore we cannot confirm that Gex the Gecko is 29 years old.
Considering this a false lead, I decided to lean towards the Great Characters Wiki, but also take into account the age of Gex’s voice actor, Dana Gould, when he voiced Gex in the first game. Gould was 31 years old at the time, so we can then assume that Gex is potentially in his 20s, but learning more towards later 20s if not early 30s. So what does this tell us about his eligibility, then?
The World’s Most Logical Conclusion
Basically, it seems most likely that Gex would be able to go for his P1 provisional licence directly after getting his learner licence. But would he pass the Hazard Perception Test? In my opinion, no. I struggle to believe that he would even pass the Driver Knowledge Test. Why? Because he is a lizard. He would not be allowed to use a Services NSW computer to complete the test in the first place.
You probably weren’t expecting that, were you? But we have to be realistic here. Not only would Gex not be allowed to use the computers at a Services NSW centre, but there’s actually no way for Gex to prove his identity which is a major requirement with every licence. It is not canonically known what type of identity documents Gex would own, if any at all.
And there you have it folks. The answer is no, Gex the Gecko would not be eligible for a NSW drivers licence.
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