The latest Zwift update has been announced and will be released in phases over the next few days. Starting this week, Zwift will be rolling out releases on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays.
This release doesn’t include new features, but makes changes to how Zwift works in areas like rolling resistance, HUD elements, and steering. Let’s dive in!
Rolling Resistance Changes
Zwift’s release notes say, “Reduced rolling resistance proportionally across road, gravel, and mountain bike wheelsets when riding on dirt road types.” There are two additional rolling resistance-related notes as well, and we’ve included them below along with a note from us:
- Reduced rolling resistance for the ENVE G23 wheelsets to match other gravel wheelsets on gravel and dirt road types. This is just a fix for a config error introduced in version v1.51. Now the ENVE wheels match the performance of all other gravel wheels.
- Corrected the rolling resistance of the Zwift Mountain bike wheelset on brick road types. Zwift actually adjusted the Crr of the MTB wheels on all hard surfaces, dropping it from .01 to .009. So the MTB will be slightly faster on pavement, brick, wood, cobbles, and sand… but still quite slow compared to road or gravel bikes.
| Surface | Old Road Crr | New Road Crr | Old MTB Crr | New MTB Crr | Old Gravel Crr | New Gravel Crr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pavement | .004 | .004 | .01 | .009 | .008 | .008 |
| Sand | .004 | .004 | .01 | .009 | .008 | .008 |
| Brick | .0055 | .0055 | .01 | .009 | .008 | .008 |
| Wood | .0065 | .0065 | .01 | .009 | .008 | .008 |
| Cobbles | .0065 | .0055 | .01 | .009 | .008 | .008 |
| Ice/Snow | .0075 | .0075 | .014 | .014 | .018 | .018 |
| Gravel | .012 | .012 | .009 | .009 | .009 | .009 |
| Dirt | .025 | .016 | .014 | .01 | .016 | .012 |
| Grass | .042 |
This is bigger news than the gravel resistance changes in version 1.51, because the dirt surface is used in more places on Zwift, including notable sections like the Mayan Jungle and Makuri Islands’ Temple KOM.
How much has rolling resistance changed on Zwift dirt? Quite a lot – especially for road bikes.
| Old Crr | New Crr | % Crr Reduced | Watt Reduction* | |
| Road | .025 | .016 | 36% | 80W |
| MTB | .014 | .01 | 29% | 36W |
| Gravel | .016 | .012 | 25% | 36W |
* “Watt Reduction” represents how much less power riders will need in order to travel at 40kph with the new Crr values. This assumes a 75kg rider on a 7kg bike.
Why the change? We think it’s because Zwift has heard many Zwifters saying, “We love the new coastal road, but don’t like slogging through the slow Jungle.” These Crr changes will speed up the Jungle significantly, especially for road bikes, possibly bringing an end to the Zwifty practice of bike swapping.
Learn more about these changes by reading our followup post, “Fast Dirt: Testing Zwift’s Rolling Resistance Changes.”
Power Display
We previously noted that Zwift’s power numbers were updating rapidly (several times per second) when connected to trainers like the Zwift Hub or Wahoo KICKR which broadcast at higher frequencies (aka 10Hz “race mode”).
Today’s update reduces the refresh rate to approximately 1Hz if you have power display set to 3 seconds, while preserving the instantaneous updates if you’re set to “instant”. As it should be.
Watopia Expansion Cleanup
As often happens after a big expansion, Zwift had some cleaning up to do once Zwifters began exploring the new tarmac. Three minor improvements were made on the new southern coast road:
- We mowed – and then paved over – the grass that was incorrectly growing on one section of roadway.
- Fixed an issue that could cause black squares to appear in some areas.
- Improved rendering and reduced frequency of objects and buildings “popping in” on approach.
Steering Improvements
Zwift continues to improve the game’s steering functionality, with every update including a note or two about steering changes. Here are the two notes from today’s update:
- Fixed an issue that could potentially cause Zwifters with steering enabled to get pushed toward the center of the road when drafting a rider to their left.
- Zwifters can now filter events based on whether steering is required or not.
Slowing the Band(its)
Zwift says this update, “Improved the behavior of the “Keep Everyone Together” (i.e. rubber-banding) option in group rides to maintain more realistic speeds on routes with high gradients like Alpe du Zwift.”
Our guess is this is aimed at rides like Sunday’s BanditZ Tronathon, a social banded ride which takes riders up Alpe du Zwift. While Zwift doesn’t say whether this change is intended to slow riders down or speed them up, our money is on banded rides being slower up the Alpe.
More Release Notes
Zwift provided notes on additional tweaks and bug fixes in this update:
- Zwift Hub: Zwifters who use Play controllers with Zwift Hub updated to firmware 5.2 or newer will now receive an in-game tutorial introducing them to Virtual Shifting and letting them choose whether to have it enabled or disabled by default.
- Zwift Hub: For Zwift Hubs that are updated to firmware 5.2 or newer, fixed an issue which could cause the spanner/wrench (i.e. calibration) icon to briefly appear on the Pairing screen after pairing the Hub. Manual calibration is no longer applicable because Auto Calibration is in effect.
- Fixed missing shadows from some trees on Alpe du Zwift.
- Workout Editor: Fixed an issue that could cause the numbers on the duration timeline to flicker.
- Ride leader fences will now be enabled by default.
- Fixed a visual issue that could affect the nameplates of Zwifters behind you.
Android:
- Fixed a potential crash that could occur when opening the Settings screen.
- Fixed a potential crash that could occur when exiting Zwift.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the game to momentarily dim after hitting a boost strip on Repack Rush.
Discuss this release on Zwift’s forum >
Questions or Comments?
If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!
Can you add “watts required” to the table showing watt savings for the 75kg rider on each type of bike?
No – because the physics/calculation don’t work that way. I can calculate the watts needed to overcome Crr for a given weight/speed/Crr, but can’t tell you the total watts required, since that’s dependent on gradient and other factors.
The point of the chart is really to show that Zwift’s change has made the dirt MUCH easier for road bikes. Easier for everyone, but it’s not a proportional change… road bikes benefit the most.
I am very excited about the results at Temple KOM if this is the end of the swap stress 🤷🏻♂️ … Road wheels benefit the most but Gravel wheels are still faster … but the Crux is still heavier than a Road bike … we will see tomorrow 😎
The calculations most definitely work that way. The only other factor that you are missing is composite CdA for the particular height/weight/bike/wheel combination used in your testing. You can pretty accurately back out a value for composite CdA for any bike/wheel/rider combination using the test data that you have already generated if you wanted to.
Very interested to see how this changes speeds and how that relates to bike swaps. Screwed up a swap that cost me a position in the front group on the ZRL race of Temples and Towers this most recent season (swap took 10s longer than planned and I hit the bottom of the descent after swapping back to a road bike at the top ~10s back from the front group and the work it took me to bridge back up to them meant I didn’t have anything left to counter their final kick after I caught them). Knowing it no… Read more »
Glad the Jungle will, maybe, get back to the original rolling resistance. Next Step Please: Install a Loop and Starting Pen at the end of the Coastal Road before it meets the Jungle. Thank you?
Not original rolling resistance (used to be as fast as tarmac) but it’s MUCH faster now on road bikes. I think it’s a good change…
I think the fact that there is no Loop or Starting Pen show that the Southern Coast road will get expanded upon. Hopefully in the near future.
It’s like an HGTV show – renovate the worst house on the block and the whole neighborhood looks better. Cheers to faster dirt, ZHQ.
I just wish that they could change the font from white to black on the yellow backgrounds of Robo Pacers.
People have been asking for it for ages but not been changed yet.
I also wish they would change the font colors and profile/gradient shadow outline color for the Neoko mini map. Also need to change color for Neoko roads on companion app map, it’s just hard to distinguish the roads and your position in the heat of battle.
I wish they’d just “pave” all the roads in Zwift. I have no interest in riding gravel in real life and no interest in-game either.
Don’t be so selfish – I like the variety Zwift offers and there are already enough paved roads for you in the game.
I agree, it’s pointless in the virtual world to have different surfaces.
Yeah in a virtual game the surface resistance is pointless, at least from the perspective of mixed surface routes, so this change is at least a step in the right direction. I’ve nothing against MTB or gravel only routes, that adds a bit of variety that would be ok, but they should be isolated routes and not mixed with road.
Exactly!!! Well said. It’s the mix which causes the unnecessary stress.
The Jungle still sucks. I just change my weight to 100lbs and blow thru the whole area. (you can change weight without stopping…so it’s seemless).
Wasn’t that a very well publicized bug a while ago that they said they fixed? Or maybe just in races?
I browse ZwiftInsider everyday (or almost) hoping to read news like this. It’s hard to imagine anyone not really appreciating this change.
But in keeping with the spirit of all Zwifters who are always asking for new features, I too would love a starting pen and roundabout near the base of the jungle.
My HRM shows connected but doesn’t show on the main screen while in game. Using ATV with companion app on iPad.
Same here. Can’t seem to isolate the problem. Sometimes I manage to connect if I open some other HRM on my phone (the one I use for companion) first. Then I open Swift on my computer. Quit the third party app (Polar Beat in my case) and turn on companion and finally my bike (Neo Smart). All that sometimes work. But I never had issues before the update
Hopefully Zwift has addressed the speed on the flats as well as the climbs for banded rides as the flats are painfully slow with the climbs being unrealistically fast, That said i still think its a ingenious way to get riders of mixed ability to ride together
The banded change is a bit needed. A friend of mine, who has never done the Alpe in under 1h30m got dragged up the Alpe in 59 minuts last Sunday with the Banditz.
Congrats to them for earning the extra badge! 😉
are you talking about the group thing where it doesnt let people get dropped or race off the front?
I was one of the 3 or 4 engines towing everyone up that day. In that version of the band as a pulling engine you really feel the weight of the riders you are pulling, it’s a bit like cycling with a trailer
so we don’t have to stop and change out to MTB when we hit the dirt because it won’t make a difference?
It will make a difference, but it will be less of one meaning that more riders will just try to tough it out rather than dropping from the group, swapping, and then trying to chase back on.
will there ever be the video capture over companion app?
With the gravel in the recent Tour of Watopia I’ve really honed my bike swap skills, to good effect. All practice wasted. So it goes.
Cool now just fix the paring of components log in issues so everyone doesn’t have to keep down loading Zwift every day to rejoin
Thank you
Now I have to re-do every route with dirt for an improved time! (I’m not complaining!)
Is this a server side change? Or are people in the same pack going to have different crr until this update is fully rolled out?
Pretty sure it’s client side.
Eeep, that could lead to some weird situations in packs coming into dirt until it’s fully rolled out.
I just want some new bikes and wheels!!
Isn’t this moving away from real world feel
No, because in the real world the road to Alpe is asphalt and to Zwift it’s sand. I don’t like going through sand on Zwift. 😉
W prawdziwym świecie unikam szutru i jest on minimalny. W Zwift jest za dużo żwiru, to nie średniowiecze 🙂
Is that a bad thing though? Not everything in the real world is good (rain, snow, potholes, stop signs, cars…)
Is this sentence correct? It confused me: “our money is on banded rides will not be slower up the Alpe.”
LOL. I revised that sentence so much I messed it up! Fixed above. I think they’ll be slower…
I could actually get exited about “keep together” improvements if only we could activate it for small mere mortals club rides, too.
Do Zwift gravel wheels still have higher Crr than named-brand wheels on dirt?
Nope. See today’s post: https://zwiftinsider.com/crr-changes-nov-2023/
Before the update you could see the duration in each block of a workout session, now you can see the block an the power related to your FTP, but I find it dissapointing you can’t see the duration of each block anymore.
Ohhhh, push out updates on Tuesdays from now on? Can’t see that having any impact on ZRL at all!
It’s not related to this update, but when i have been Zwifting the last few days (and playing a YouTube video and using a webcam online), my whole monitor freezes for a few seconds, then the video recovers, but Zwift is permanently frozen and when i minimise the window and re-enlarge it it just flashes the one frame it froze on, and all screenshots appear just solid black on my phone. Anyone any ideas why? I’m on Windows 11, it could be just i need to turn down all the resolutions of Zwift and the video but any other idea?
I don’t understand the 10hz/1hz power updating.
if I’m participating in a race and would like the instant power response from 10hz updating, do I have to be in “instant” power reporting in the setting? Otherwise if I stay on “3 sec average” I will only send 1hz per second power updates to the game?
I’m trying to figure out how to not miss on out On the 10hz “race mode”
thanks!
The Power Display setting only changes the DISPLAY – it doesn’t change the numbers Zwift is using. This is a common misconception. Even with 3s averaging on, Zwift will still see and respond to your 10Hz broadcasted power at 10Hz.
Ah! Makes total sense! Thanks for clearing that up. I misunderstood your post above. Thanks again, Eric!
In that case, what exactly has changed with this update? Was the 3sec average not previously available?
Previously your power display was updating at 10Hz, regardless of power display setting. Not exactly what you want when you’ve got 3s avg enabled.
Showing current kcals used on display should be an option to 🙂
Observed something very strange on ToW Stage 4 “D” on Oct. 29. There were only four of us on the ride. While riding through the jungle, one of the riders kept jumping way ahead and way behind me over and over again. A few times I saw her avatar ahead of me and she would jerk around sideways almost like sliding into a u-turn partially and then would disappear. In one instance a got a brief view of her head at the bottom of my screen as though she had possibly crashed beside/behind me. I promise I was 100% sober… Read more »
That indicates an internet connection issue on their end. The game is only receiving sporadic updates as to her location, then trying to render them in a way that makes sense.
It could also be the game is trying to reconcile crr differences (and hence speed differences and hence position differences) between different zwifters (those who have updated vs those who have not yet). It’s not a situation that their code would ever have expected to deal with.
i sceptically think the coastal road was added to get people to go to the most dislike parts of watopia ( the jungle loop )
Zwift Academy paint job which I bought in previous version is not longer available and also in my garage gone! So I spent drops for nothing..
Why did you buy it when you unlock it for doing ZA anyway? Might’ve been an error as it was listed under Zwift bikes anyway (not Canyon)
Did you buy the paint job or the bike? I’ve never seen a paint job in the drop shop.
The ZA2023 Canyon with ’23 paint job has been in the drop shop for a few days, but under the Zwift bike section (not Canyon) for a few hundred k. Might have been an error and now removed apparently.
Thanks. Very strange to put it there to buy.
Had the same thing and now all te drops are gone and I’m back on the rookie bike
Cool!
Next time, can’t you make an option to start anywhere on the map and drive to anywhere, so that you can insert this information yourself (A start pen)
It will also be nice whit the possible to take your own intermediate time/watt numbers by pressing a button at the bottom screen. In this way, you can run your own intervals etc.
or take your own watt figures for a stretch / increase-mountain at a specific point.
is there any news as to when Zwift will display the gears for a Wahoo Kickr Shift [now that Zwift & Wahoo are friends gain]
No news. I’m sure it’s coming though!
Thank you Eric,
The fact that the Zwift shop now offers the Kickr bikes can only be a positive sign.
Best Regards
Paul Churchill
Have they included the gear display for A Kickr Bike Shift [ now that Zwift & Wahoo are friends again] ?
Has the wrench icon come back? I can’t calibrate and I’m about to lose my mind
Are they working on de-coupling gradient from trainer difficulty on the Kickr Bike? This way, the bike tilts at 10% on a 10% hill while trainer difficulty is at say… 30%.
Has anyone else had this update kill their Stages Bike’s resistance? In the “Paired Devices” setup, it no longer shows “Controllable” but instead “Resistance.” I select Stages for both Power Sources and Cadence, but nothing shows up for Resistance. Then in a ride, ERG mode is no longer available, and the wattage is totally inaccurate. Help!
I did a group ride the Herd in Watopoa this am and we passed two places in the road that still had grass growing in the road.
Updated to 1.52.0 this morning. It had lost my trainer connection settings, had to re-select. About 35 minutes into my ride, it dropped the connection (which it’s never done before in 3 years). Going to the devices menu, it initially says Ant+ not connected – connects again after a few seconds, but then connection disappears again as soon as I start riding. After about 5 similar attempts I gave up. Anyone else had connectivity issues with new update?
One presumably unintended result of the crr changes is that they don’t seem to have changed the crr for the Robo pacers. When riding the Wandering Flats route with Maria, the gravel section between Yumezi & Neokyo causes a big split in the group each time as Maria slows dramatically relative to the other riders. To stay with Maria, I had to slow from the 2.2 w/kg average down to about 1.5 w/kg. Most riders didn’t realise this was happening (it took me a while to figure it out) & so were suddenly 35-40 seconds ahead at the end of… Read more »
During the last rides I encountered some changes I wanted to share. The new graphics are incredible going up & especially going down AdZ. However, in today’s workout my avatar was continuously turning left and right to draft everything & everybody ahead & then rinding through. I actually think to recall avatar typically kept some distance unless approaching too fast, right?
Hello ,
Would be nice to see on the HUD near HR and Cadence also the L/R Pedaling balance for those using power pedals or Tacx NEO and with disfuctional problems in order to be more easier to correct instead of using an additional gps device to follow that