Las Vegas would be perfect, with the desert (like in DRIVER 2).
Well it's said in the game that we are 6 months after the events of DRIV3R !
At the beginning, Tanner says to Jones why he wants to be sure that Jericho is well transfered : "He put a bullet in my back 6 months ago" or something like that.
But yeah, DSF is very different from DRIV3R sadly.
Driver : San Francisco takes place 6 months after the event of DRIV3R tho' :P
I'm not sure there is a driving game with a driving as good as Driver these days...
The DRIVER series has something than modern urban open world games don't have. A good driving for beginning :D