Let's be blunt. Luke was trained by basically the two greatest Jedis.
Taking a look at the first one. He was only able to deflect them once and with ObiWan guiding him. Even Luke didn't know what he was feeling. As Hand said, it was just luck. It was his first time tapping into that power.
Taking a look at the space battle. They make note in the film that Luke is already an exceptional pilot on Tatoonie and the trench run is something he's done before back home. It is also noted that his father was a strong jedi and the best pilot in the clone wars from Obi Wan. Who then is only capable of using the force again with Obi Wan guiding him. The jump you have to take is piloting skills are transferable between land and air in this case.
Empire. That was something he did on his own. He's most likely been practicing on his own and discovering, probably with some Obi Wan Ghost help.
Everything onwards was completing his training with Yoda.
The OT did everything pretty damn well in this regard. They set up his continual growth through the help of others and mentioning his previous skill set.
Comparing it to Rebels, it makes sense too. Luke comes from the strongest Jedi family. Being trained by two of the greatest Jedis of all time. The guy training Ezra was barely above a Padawan.
His training as shown was rather lacking, which remains the point. Luke didn't know what he was feeling, just given vague guidelines to reach for the Force by Obi-Wan. This is also true of Rey.
How exactly is a moisture farm boy getting amazing flying experience? (Most of that extra background is given in extra material; the T-16 Skyhopper became super common in, despite the fact that you rarely see another one. And it was later made into an Incom vehicle, to tie it to the X-Wings.) There was no build-up in the film for it. Just a single mention of any piloting whatsoever, which hadn't been part of the character until the moment it was needed. What do you have for Rey? A life as a scavenger giving her engineering skills, a clear love of piloting and Skywalker in particular (the helmet and Skywalker doll), and illustrated staff fighting skills.
On Empire, you filled in the blanks. That's the extra thought needed. You jive with the character and as such, you're filling in small logic holes like that.
Rey is as well fleshed out in her skillset as Luke and Anakin were before her. Vaguely mention or illustrate expertise and let the Force fill in the gaps. They've done largely the same due diligence when it comes to character seeding. The worse case we have for Rey is the mind trick, which like Luke's with calling his lightsaber in Empire, is largely handwaved away as "they were desperate and they tried something". Everything else? Given the rules of Star Wars' heroes and the Force, it perfectly fits.
Honestly, the most unbelievable parts of the OT (post-PT release) and TFA is that people think the Jedi are a myth.
The OT has so many more quite, slow dialog scenes and imo is much better for it.
Huh. I... well. I got nothing for this. I simply disagree completely.
