This week, Adam from the Road to A YouTube channel released a video outlining his list of the top 9 things missing in Zwift:
While he admits that his suggestions lean heavily into the racing side of Zwift, Adam is a thoughtful guy, and Zwift should be listening to his ideas. So I decided to unpack his video a bit by offering my take on each of his ideas and sharing that “conversation” with the world.
Below, I summarize each of his points, then provide my own star rating (out of 5) to indicate how important I consider this item to be in the universe of potential Zwift improvements. Lastly, I provide a comment to explain my rating. Let’s dive in!
#1: Drafting Indicator
Drafting is a key Zwift racing skill, but even today we still have no way of measuring how well we’re doing it. Can I save more watts if I get closer to this back wheel? What if I scoot left or right a bit? Sauce for Zwift and Pedal Games can both display it. Why doesn’t Zwift?
Adam, like (I imagine) most Zwifters, isn’t too fussed about exactly how a drafting indicator could work. It might show the number of watts saved, or just be a graph showing how much of the available draft you’re receiving.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Drafting is too mysterious in Zwift, and a simple indicator would go a long way toward helping people understand how it works.
#2: New Roads
Everyone loves new roads, but Zwift’s construction crews have always worked at a painfully slow pace. Adam would love to see new roads, and in particular, perhaps a long, double-sided climb that could be used in various ways to create interesting routes.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I don’t think Zwift needs to release hundreds of miles of new roads each year, but I do think they should speed up construction, because Zwifters love to explore and experience new roads.
Expanding Watopia with some gravel rides in the rocks around Fuego Flats, giving us a few interesting urban roads in London, Innsbruck, and Richmond, releasing a velodrome… the possibilities are nearly endless.
#3: Connected Worlds
Why not connect all the worlds, instead of having separate maps? Adam thinks this would be a big improvement, because imagine the epic routes you could piece together!
My Rating: ⭐⭐
I’ve never been a fan of the connected worlds idea. I think just adding new roads fulfills this need – if each of the maps is big enough, the need to connect them goes away. (Also, connecting the maps would basically nuke my carefully-created library of Strava segments…)
#4: Custom Routes
What if event organizers could create a custom route using a simple tool, defining the start and finish locations, as well as the roads used in between?
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
As a ride/race organizer, I’d love to be able to define custom routes. This wouldn’t be terribly useful on smaller maps, but on more complex worlds like Watopia and Makuri Islands, there are a lot of fun possibilities.
(ZwiftMap.com has a custom route builder that serves as a good example of how this could work.)
#5: More Variety in ZRacing
Zwift’s ZRacing series is the most popular one on the platform, but that’s not because they are particularly compelling events. They get a lot of participation because they are scheduled multiple times daily, Zwift advertises them, and the series has been running for a few years, so racers default to it when looking for a race.
Adam would like to see courses get more interesting, though. Perhaps each week’s route gets more climby, or more custom routes are used to mix things up.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
ZRacing events tend to be flat or rolling routes, which are the sort of routes I most enjoy racing. So I’m not going to complain about route choice! I would like to see more creative route selection, though, including some custom-length routes.
I think it’s good for Zwift to have a steady, predictable, and Zwift-owned race series always running. I just wish there were better tools for race organizers, so the community could be more creative in setting up additional races.
#6: Weight Verification
When Adam asks for weight verification, he’s not asking for what you think (some way to ensure everyone’s weight in Zwift is accurate). Instead, he’s asking for a simple popup that lets people know what their current weight is, and makes it easy for them to update if they’d like. Because, as Adam rightly explains, many Zwifters have their weight set incorrectly because they forget about it or don’t realize how important it is.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
This is a cool, simple idea, and one I’ve never heard suggested before. I think a weekly reminder like Adam suggests is too often, but a monthly or quarterly popup seems about right.
#7: Points Races
As Adam explains, Zwift natively supports just two race formats currently: scratch races and time trials. The concept of points races is a popular one, though, and if Zwift could support them with in-game HUD elements showing points segments and real-time results, this racing format would become very popular very quickly.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Points racing already exists in Zwift, of course, but supporting it natively in game (in real time) would turn points races into an exciting subgenre of Zwift racing with its own set of strategies and fitness requirements. If done right, it would be the biggest thing to happen to Zwift racing in recent years.
#8: Mixed Starts in Races
This one is going to be fairly controversial – Adam says that up front. What he’s pitching is that all categories start together in races, and the HUD is updated to show not only your overall current placement, but also your placement within your category. At the finish your score would be calculated based on how you finished among all riders in the race, not just those in your category.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
I like the idea of giving organizers the option to have their race work as Adam describes, because mass-start events can help push lower-category riders past their misconceived limits. And I really like the idea of being able to see where I’m currently placed in my category, instead of just the overall placing.
One caveat, though: organizing your race in this way should just remain an option, not a requirement. Because giving race organizers more options is a good thing, instead of forcing races to work in a certain way.
#9: ZRS Improvements
Zwift Racing Score was officially released in October 2024, but Adam isn’t satisfied with its current state. He mentions two issues in this video:
- It is heavily skewed by the type of routes you race on
- It really doesn’t take the strength of the field into consideration (despite claiming to do so)
Adam does a great job of delving further into ZRS’ shortcomings in this related video.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
On one hand, I must say that ZRS has been working fine for me, and has placed me where I think I should be in terms of the abilities of the riders I race against. I’m consistently in fields that push me to the limit, and where no riders are grossly overpowered and able to ride away from everyone.
That said, the score movements I’ve seen based on my results haven’t always made sense. So while I may not agree with all of Adam’s points, we are in agreement that ZRS still has considerable room for improvement. Adam’s related video digs into some of the key issues nicely.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of Adam’s suggestions and my replies? Are these the top 9 things missing on Zwift right now, or is there something else you’d put on the list first?
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