Best area(s) to fool around - drive, shoot, fly?

Are there areas you can try out the freebie cars, bikes, jet packs etc.
without annoying people?

Just someplace you can mess around. Thanks.

Unless you're planning to grief, pretty much anywhere not blocking people from entering. Just pick a road and start driving down it.

Ok, thanks.

Just wondering if there were special or popular areas for that sort of thing. Like, I'm pretty sure someone would be cheesed off if I crashed a plane on their club, for example

Well if you're worried about crashing then fly over the void sims. Nobody will care if you crash in the middle of the ocean.

Tiger, the other posters gave you some good advice. Just be advised most roads are no rez-zones... meaning you can't rez your vehicles there. You will need to rez them to the side, off of the road. Just watch the icon at the top center of your screen, the circled box with a slash thru it. When that disappears, you are okay to rez. Then you just drive onto the road.

You also asked about shooting. The only place that it is "okay" to shoot is in a combat area. I would suggest the following sims: Jessie & Rausch. Be warned, these are combat sims and the other people there might just shoot back.

The 'Lost Lakes' area of Second Life (East of Isabel & Wingo, West of Cichlid) is an amazing place to test & play with watercraft.

There are over 27 Linden void-sims of water, with an island in the middle that allows rezzing. It is one of the largest mainland water areas in Second Life.

There's also a Free 18-minute balloon tour of the lake area that originates at the Shelter's waterfront.

Speaking of crashed aircraft, right near my house is a rather large commercial looking jet that's precariously crashed into the ground. The only thing that's missing is the burning wreckage.

If you look at the map for Taedong, it actually shows up, it's so large! If you'd like to see it in person, view my profile - one of my picks is my property. You can see the jet from my roof. The neighbors just in front of it have walls up that'll force you to fly above or around to get to the jet.

It's been there for a few weeks. Pretty interesting and amusing clutter for my neighborhood.

The best place I like is right on the border of owned land and linden land... usually a far corner of the map. There, you can rez things on the owned land, then play with them in the linden land. There's zero lag cause no ones around.

I'm surprised no one mentioned the vehicle sims starting at Balance, on the mainland not far from the Ahern Welcome Area. 6 sims (I think) set aside specifically for using vehicles and usually empty whenever I check.

you have to go to the nissan island (212, 127, 27) and pick a free nissan from the vending machine - hilarious fun

theres also a loop de loop (which is hard but fun) - although dont do it from the opposite end to the vending machine as if you make it you go hurtling into the crowd of people hanging around the vending machine ;)

Yes, the vehicle sims on the mainland are expressly set up by the Lindens for exactly this. There are 4 vehicle sims, Brilliant, Fame, Fortuna and Bethel. There are only a few spots where you can rez your vehicle, one of which is by Busy Ben's car lot. Look for what looks like the start area on a racetrack. That's where you can rez them.

There are rivers and bridges and courses to drive around. It's a huge, open, laggless area and unfortunately it's not nearly advertised enough.

If you rez your car in sandbox cordova or goguen you can ramp jump into the vehicle test zones that Ingrid mentioned.