Zwift Update Version 1.52 (122317) Released

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.
SurfaceOld Road CrrNew Road CrrOld MTB CrrNew MTB CrrOld Gravel CrrNew 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 CrrNew Crr% Crr ReducedWatt Reduction*
Road.025.01636%80W
MTB.014.0129%36W
Gravel.016.01225%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

Heading out from the Jungle to the new coastal road

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!

Eric Schlange
Eric Schlangehttp://www.zwiftinsider.com
Eric runs Zwift Insider in his spare time when he isn't on the bike or managing various business interests. He lives in Northern California with his beautiful wife, two kids and dog. Follow on Strava

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Mike
Mike
19 days ago

Can you add “watts required” to the table showing watt savings for the 75kg rider on each type of bike?

Carsten Re. from Germany
Carsten Re. from Germany
19 days ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

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 😎

Scott
Scott
18 days ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

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.

Paul Himes
Paul Himes
19 days ago

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 »

Buddy The Elf
Buddy The Elf
19 days ago

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?

Sam C
Sam C
16 days ago
Reply to  Buddy The Elf

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.

Tour de Garager
Tour de Garager
19 days ago

It’s like an HGTV show – renovate the worst house on the block and the whole neighborhood looks better. Cheers to faster dirt, ZHQ.

Mick Such
Mick Such
19 days ago

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.

Jason
Jason
19 days ago
Reply to  Mick Such

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.

Darren
Darren
19 days ago

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.

Stefan
Stefan
19 days ago
Reply to  Darren

Don’t be so selfish – I like the variety Zwift offers and there are already enough paved roads for you in the game.

Philip
Philip
19 days ago
Reply to  Darren

I agree, it’s pointless in the virtual world to have different surfaces.

Jimmy
Jimmy
19 days ago
Reply to  Darren

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.

jon
jon
18 days ago
Reply to  Jimmy

Exactly!!! Well said. It’s the mix which causes the unnecessary stress.

Chris G
Chris G
15 days ago
Reply to  Darren

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).

Tim
Tim
15 days ago
Reply to  Chris G

Wasn’t that a very well publicized bug a while ago that they said they fixed? Or maybe just in races?

Andy
Andy
19 days ago

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.

Kevin Hicks
Kevin Hicks
19 days ago

My HRM shows connected but doesn’t show on the main screen while in game. Using ATV with companion app on iPad.

Rasmus
Rasmus
16 days ago
Reply to  Kevin Hicks

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

Dave T
19 days ago

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

Peter
Peter
19 days ago

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.

Kaowin
Kaowin
19 days ago
Reply to  Peter

Congrats to them for earning the extra badge! 😉

dan
dan
18 days ago
Reply to  Peter

are you talking about the group thing where it doesnt let people get dropped or race off the front?

Jon
Jon
16 days ago
Reply to  Peter

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

lou
lou
19 days ago

so we don’t have to stop and change out to MTB when we hit the dirt because it won’t make a difference?

Caedmon
Caedmon
19 days ago
Reply to  lou

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.

Fadsagg
Fadsagg
19 days ago

will there ever be the video capture over companion app?

Howard Waller
Howard Waller
19 days ago

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.

Dennis oliver
Dennis oliver
19 days ago

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

Tim
Tim
19 days ago

Now I have to re-do every route with dirt for an improved time! (I’m not complaining!)

Tim
Tim
19 days ago

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?

Tim
Tim
19 days ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

Eeep, that could lead to some weird situations in packs coming into dirt until it’s fully rolled out.

Kaowin
Kaowin
19 days ago

I just want some new bikes and wheels!!

Brian Moore
Brian Moore
19 days ago

Isn’t this moving away from real world feel

ArT
ArT
19 days ago
Reply to  Brian Moore

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 🙂

Tim
Tim
19 days ago
Reply to  Brian Moore

Is that a bad thing though? Not everything in the real world is good (rain, snow, potholes, stop signs, cars…)

Tom
Tom
19 days ago

Is this sentence correct? It confused me: “our money is on banded rides will not be slower up the Alpe.”

Ollie
Ollie
19 days ago

I could actually get exited about “keep together” improvements if only we could activate it for small mere mortals club rides, too.

Tord
Tord
19 days ago

Do Zwift gravel wheels still have higher Crr than named-brand wheels on dirt?

Mitchell Van Looveren
Mitchell Van Looveren
18 days ago

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.

George
George
18 days ago

Ohhhh, push out updates on Tuesdays from now on? Can’t see that having any impact on ZRL at all!

Andrew Percival
Andrew Percival
18 days ago

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?

Michael
Michael
18 days ago

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!

Michael
Michael
18 days ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

Ah! Makes total sense! Thanks for clearing that up. I misunderstood your post above. Thanks again, Eric!

JPP
JPP
18 days ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

In that case, what exactly has changed with this update? Was the 3sec average not previously available?

Sam
Sam
18 days ago

Showing current kcals used on display should be an option to 🙂

Tara Jones-LeGros
Tara Jones-LeGros
18 days ago

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 »

Tim
Tim
18 days ago

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.

dan
dan
18 days ago

i sceptically think the coastal road was added to get people to go to the most dislike parts of watopia ( the jungle loop )

Mike
Mike
18 days ago

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..

Kaowin
Kaowin
17 days ago
Reply to  Mike

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)

Tony Lane
Tony Lane
17 days ago
Reply to  Mike

Did you buy the paint job or the bike? I’ve never seen a paint job in the drop shop.

Kaowin
Kaowin
17 days ago
Reply to  Tony Lane

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.

Tony Lane
Tony Lane
17 days ago
Reply to  Kaowin

Thanks. Very strange to put it there to buy.

NJansen
NJansen
13 days ago
Reply to  Mike

Had the same thing and now all te drops are gone and I’m back on the rookie bike

Brian Winding
Brian Winding
17 days ago

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.

Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
17 days ago

is there any news as to when Zwift will display the gears for a Wahoo Kickr Shift [now that Zwift & Wahoo are friends gain]

Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
5 days ago
Reply to  Eric Schlange

Thank you Eric,
The fact that the Zwift shop now offers the Kickr bikes can only be a positive sign.
Best Regards
Paul Churchill

Paul Churchill
Paul Churchill
17 days ago

Have they included the gear display for A Kickr Bike Shift [ now that Zwift & Wahoo are friends again] ?

Brady
Brady
17 days ago

Has the wrench icon come back? I can’t calibrate and I’m about to lose my mind

Johnny
Johnny
16 days ago

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%.

Dave
Dave
15 days ago

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!

Kevin
Kevin
15 days ago

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.

Jon P
Jon P
14 days ago

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?

Henry Heavisides
Henry Heavisides(@henryheavisides)
14 days ago

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 »

C.R3
C.R3
11 days ago

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?

Florin Miu
Florin Miu
11 days ago

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

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