Zwift Update Version 1.55 (123458) Released

The last Zwift update of 2023 was released today, with rollout to Windows/macOS/Android machines beginning today and iOS/Apple TV beginning tomorrow.

Given the previous update‘s pile of changes and the holiday season, it’s not surprising to see that this update is light on major features. But let’s dive into the details!

Workout Tooltips

Zwift has been tweaking the workout startup screen since they released it back in October, and today they added “tooltip”-style detail popups for intervals if you mouse over them (PC/Mac) or slide your finger over them on a touch screen device.

This is a welcome change, as it lets you see precise details for each interval in your workout.

Race Timing Display Changes

Today’s update includes this note:

Made a change for the timing of all competitive events (excluding team time trials and individual time trials): the time displayed in the HUD will now be the elapsed time from the event start (gun time) instead of the elapsed time beginning when the rider has crossed the start line (chip time). More information on this thread.

This is an interesting change. First, here’s a video showing how race timing behaved before this change. Note how my ride timer (and distance) don’t begin counting until approximately 30 seconds into the race. Then when I cross the finish line, the elapsed time on my HUD is around 30 seconds less than the time that pops up for the results.

The race result used “gun time”, while my HUD was showing “chip time.” (“Gun time” refers to starting the timer when the start gun is fired, while “chip time” references having a timing chip on your bike which is picked up when you cross the event’s start line.) This is a bit annoying when, for example, you’re competing in the ZRacing monthly GC and are chasing a particular target time.

With today’s change, the time shown in the HUD will now match the time shown on the results screen. That’s good. But the odd thing about this change is that it does not apply to time trial races, where time (arguably) matters a lot more, and gun time is used for race results!

My hunch is Zwift excluded TT events from this change because they need to do some code changes in order to display gun time for TT events, given the unique way TT events slot riders in at different start intervals. But this does need to happen, so I’ll bet this isn’t the last news we’ll see related to gun vs chip time.

More Release Notes

Zwift provided notes (and occasional jokes) on additional tweaks and bug fixes in this update:

• Fixed a bug where cyclists could occasionally swerve into runners. That’s for other video games.
• Fixed an issue where Climb Portal’s elevation scaling options could not be navigated using keyboard or Play controllers.
• Fixed an issue with riders time in events that have the same segment and event finish lines.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s name in race results could be displayed in the wrong font color.
• The Save Activity screen now shows if you’ve connected your Zwift account to Wahoo SYSTM, which will post your Zwift activities to your Wahoo account.
• You can now dismiss the new cycling Streaks screen via the Zwift Companion mobile app.
• Fixed an issue where the road on the Canopies and Coastlines route flickered in some locations.
• Steering-Only events are now categorized under the “Hardware Requirement” filter.
• We humanely captured and re-released elsewhere the butterflies that appeared in the cycling Streaks screen after completing an activity in Climb Portal.
• Windows/Mac: Fixed a potential crash that could occur when riding with a RoboPacer.
• iOS & ATV: Custom workouts can once again be deleted

Discuss this release on Zwift’s forum >

Questions or Comments?

If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!