Zwift released a minor update last night, worth mentioning only because there’s been a lot of confusion recently due to changes made to the rolling resistance of some dirt portions of Watopia.
Last week’s update notes included this from Jon Mayfield:
Various wheels and tires now have different rolling resistance based on the surface they are rolling on. IE, a mountain bike or gravel tire may be the best on the Jungle circuit, while a road/TT bike is fastest on the tarmac. More to come here in a future update.
I love the concept here. That Zwift is adding another strategic element to their “game” so those who pick the right equipment for the course get a performance edge over those who do not.
Just like the real world. If I’m racing on gravel, I need to have the right bike for it. And that bike won’t be the same one I use for a crit, or a mountain bike downhill.
Not Quite There
So far, though, this new feature of Zwift’s hasn’t rolled out well. It began with complaints that group rides on the Jungle Circuit were splintering apart, with riders flying off the front holding less power than those struggling to catch on.
Group leaders were going crazy trying to figure out the issue until they began comparing game version numbers. Guess what? Zwifters who hadn’t updated to the latest version were rolling fast through the Jungle, while Zwifters on the latest version moved much slower. At 300 watts (4 w/kg) it was a difference of about 5km/hr. No small difference!
On top of that, the Zwift Mountain bike which was rolled out in last week’s update was supposed to perform pretty well in the dirt. Details are scarce, but the big idea was that the mountain bike would be a poor choice for a race on tarmac, while being a useful option in the jungle.
But that hasn’t materialized either. Thus far some bugs have made it so the mountain bike doesn’t perform well… anywhere, really! (It’s probably a bit faster than it should be on tarmac, but significantly slower than, say, the Tron bike on the Jungle Circuit.)
Today’s Jungle Update: Faster Dirt
With today’s update, the Jungle is rolling much faster. Since we hadn’t done a lot of testing on the Jungle Circuit prior to last week’s update, we can’t really tell if the speeds are different now than they were, say, 1 month ago. But they’re pretty close, and much faster than they were after last week’s update.
As for the mountain bike: it still isn’t performing particularly well on any surface. But that should change soon (and it seems plenty fast on Repack Ridge!)
Squishing Bugs/Riding Gravel
Zwift will get these bugs fixed soon enough. Then we’ll test various setups and help you get a virtual gravel/dirt setup just in time for the winter season.
Oh, this is great news. New UK world which could lead to new future courses and some of the great Yorkshire hill climbs and even a MTB bike ride – do we get to do Jumps like Peter Segan ????? š
Just rode through the jungle ruins, and my speed drastically shrunk. Is this due to me having road tires, and not a gravel or mtb? My speed instantly came back once the tarmac resumed.
It appears Zwift has increased the “rolling resistance” of the Jungle’s dirt roads, which has reduced speeds by quite a bit (around 7-8km/hr, from what we’re seeing). Working on speed tests to figure out exactly what has changed, and if particular wheels perform better in the dirt.
Hi, do you know if the accelerometer ist better with newer iphones? I just tried steering with an iphone 5 and it totally sucked :O(
Yes, this is what I’ve heard. I’ve heard it’s not good on the 6 or 7 either. I have an XR and it’s great.
I saw a red, not the usual blue, symbol for a feather power up being used yesterday, are there now different colour codes for different power ups?
Not that I know of. The Feather is green, anyway! See https://zwiftinsider.com/powerups/
Just noticed that those taking FTP year have the ride on button next to their name the whole time – donāt remember that being the case.
It wasn’t! I guess that’s pretty cool, really. We need all the help we can get in those FTP tests…
I had to drastically reduce the sensitivity of the steering to get my bike to stay on the track. Worked better then. Give it a try next time. Its the sliding scale on the left of the screen – move it left for less sensitivity.
Yes, I liked it best around 25% sensitivity.
what is the rolling resistance of the Tron bike?
Do you get to keep the mountain bike after you finish the new course? Can other people see you riding it on the road if so?
You have to unlock the bike by finishing the course in under 12:30, with at least 9 stars. Then it acts like any other bike in your garage.
Anyone having ‘route badge’ issues w appletv4k? I’ve done the sand & sequoia route two days in a row now, each day no badge
Are you sure you completed the route? It doesn’t end until you cross through the rock arch banner…
I hate riding the jungle circuit now! Please Zwift, let us turn off this feature! This was one of my favorite routes.
And here it was me thinking I was having a rough dsy when I did the Jungle loop and looked at my mets and they terrible. Glad to know it wasn’t me. And good to know they where doing this so I can plan accordingly.
I rode the jungle on the tron today and was amazed how much slower it was.i was over 2 mins slower for a lap and putting out roughly the same power.it was so slow I thought my trainer was dropping out.its a shame as if you ride the road to ruins the is a lot of tarmac and a decent climb before you get to the jungle,and you cant put gravel tyres on the tron.so all that work for a really slow bike through the jungle.and are there tyres on the tron? I thought it sort of hovered like magic.in which case it should roll as normal.zwift need to clear this up.
Ride onš
I wish they would add speedtrees and wind zones that changed. I think it would be more immersive.
Looks like bike changes are coming in on races now.
Normal road bikes for Tarmac roads n then quick change in the garage to a dirt bike for the gravel.
It’s quicker to change bike than to loose the time on slow tyres. š
Hopefully someone will listen and turn this useless, unwanted feature off – it’s ruining group rides for everyone.
Unrelated to this update, but I noticed yesterday that if you’re doing the Mountain 8 route on Watopia then the hairpin turn-off to go up to the radio tower prevents you from matching with the reverse KOM segment… a matter of 100 flat metres or something stupid.
Seems like very poor design on Zwift’s part, I’d love to see them change that.
I hadnāt ridden the Road to Ruins course for a while so I decided today to give it a go. My MacBook Pro picked up and installed the latest patch this morning so I was fully up to date. I was amazed, and not happy, that the full 29km route took me an additional 15 minutes to complete. I can see why group rides are getting messed up with this and earlier updates. š„µ
Think about it. That is about best way of doing it
Do you have to complete the mtb challenge before you get tire options? I cannot find tire choices in the garage.
You have to unlock them with the MTB frame by finishing the MTB course in under 12:30 and with 9 stars or better.
@Eric Do you know if anyone has compiled a list of what phones work well? I tried to find an old Android phone I could sweat all over and none would register turning at all even though they had the required sensors.
I asked Zwift but was instead sent a link to what phones can run the main game well. They don’t seem to maintain a separate list for the steering.