It seems aesthetics over functionality have been prioritised with this update, and that is such a shame.
We all knew this update was coming, and unfortunately it is a massive disappointment.
I do want to say massive kudos to whoever was involved for adjusting the width limit very quickly with the initial bad feedback from multiple players.
The general usefulness of this new player panel has decreased significantly from it's previous iteration, yes, it does of course have a more modern look. However that modern look is instantly negated by every sub-menu still being the old style. And honestly, being able to compare old and new literally side by side, the new aesthetics really don't outweigh the new, limited, functionality.
There is so much wasted space, for example the ID column is too wide for what is a max 4 digit number that needs to be displayed. All of that redundant spacing needs to be streamlined, currently, it is a very intrusive window, that a lot of people rely on to drive safely.
The scaling is also very unhelpful as it is linked with the chat window. I use 2560x1440 resolution, and luckily I can have the scaling on the minimum setting to still be able to read chat, which thankfully makes the new player panel smaller, however the text within the player panel, specifically usernames are too small. Increasing the scaling makes the player panel more and more intrusive.
Another change is the use of icons after a username to display a Steam friend, VTC member, Patreon member or TMP staff member, instead of using coloured usernames. This seems like a massively unuseful and cluttered change. A coloured username was instantly recogniseable at a glance, and now these icons require the user to have an increased minimum width to be able to view them all with longer tags + usernames.
One thing I personally liked on the old scoreboard was that it could be made as long / tall as needed, now there is also a limit to that, which is a personal annoyance for me.
I am very curious how much testing this new player panel had. Assuming it was done by upper staff within TMP, this really shows how disconnected they are to the average player.
It seems recently the quality of TMP has been decreasing and it is such a massive shame.
I hope in near future the player panel can be improved and suggestions by the community are taken onboard.