Heh, I think there will be quite a lot of discussion about this.. At first I missed it, because I've been using the speedometer actively not to adjust my driving, but to see if I'm improving from one lap to another. You know, "can I manage to stay above 120 kph through this curve?" That sort of thing. That way I added small milestones for me to take down one by one, in addition to just the split times.
It's not that I won't be able to drive just as good without a digital speedometer, but IMO it takes away some of the fun.
Other than that, I absolutely love the patch so far! The AI is significantly improved. I just arranged a "track day" for myself and 12 AI "buddies" on Aston Historic in practice mode, with fast cars, slow cars and myself in the middle. Then I pressed shift-f to remove all the clutter on my screen, waited for the AI drivers to pull of, and then I drove. It really added to the fun to have to check your mirrors and be aware of other drivers even when practicing -- after all, in real life you rarely have the whole track to yourself.