I think once you have Jabba on Tatooine it blows the whole middle of nowhere angle. As a crime lord he is known to the Rebels and he seems to be local in the 1977 version of the film. Greedo strongly suggests Jabba is nearby during his confrontation with Han, near enough for him to take Solo to him without too much hassle (he really intends to kill Solo but his claim doesn't seem to be too credulity stretching).

It's one time the "a certain point of view" angle can legitimately be evoked.

I remember a pal of mine had just come over from a small village in India.

It was winter and it snowed, no big shakes for me it wasn't even a major snowfall but he had never seen snow before the day was a really big thing for him, he still talks about it to this day and his mum chases poisonous snakes I could only see in a zoo out her kitchen.

Tatooine is nothing to Luke, I dare say Coruscant would mean nothing to him if he was brought up there.

He has a yen for adventure so home is the last place he wants to be wherever that home is.

Even its the sort of place with the occasional space battle and a run in with Sand People or worse. How many bored Afghan children there must be but for most of us to go there would be an adventure with a lot of danger thrown into the mix.

Podracing is exciting to us more because it is exotic to us.

There is a certain thrill that comes with speed but is speedway really remarkable to everyone or just to people who have never seen a motorbike off road before?

I also think it was always intended that the story would return there. You just don't drop in a line like "I'm never coming back to this place again" without intending to play the irony card.