Hi,
I admit I can't really see any even mid-term enjoyment of just driving around - the tracks are only so big, it's not like there is an open-world. You will only discover that once you go off the beaten track (i.e. where the actual track is) things will look less polished, and there will be problems (falling of the edge of the map, perhaps even things disappearing due to culling, ...).
Also the argument that there are certainly at least 5 (or so) people who are currently interested in that is no point - just compare: do you want drive-aimlessly-around(da2) or online play? Do you want to da2 or online highscores with ghost replay? da2 or voting for addon tracks in game? da2 or different kart physics for different karts? Even if the 5 or so people should prefer da2 over one of them, what do you think will the majority of STK players prefer?
Having said that, I actually intend to add a game mode which will give people the opportunity to explore tracks a bit more - which you can use to drive around aimlessly. I can't say atm if it will be available for all tracks (due to the problems mentioned above), only for overworld, or a selection of tracks (tracks with a well defined border will work better since they don't have the falling off track issue ... so mostly tracks on islands

). Nor can I exactly say when I will find the time to add this. But it's something I would love to add, since it would be a nice kids-mode

Cheers,
Joerg