Zwift version 1.85 begins its phased rollout today. This release delivers “Factory Tour”, the long-awaited fourth challenge, giving experienced Zwifters something to work toward. Read on for details!
New “Factory Tour” Challenge
This one will put a smile on the face of veteran Zwifters! After years of just three major in-game Challenges (Climb Mt. Everest, Ride California, and Tour Italy), today Zwift is releasing a fourth, giving longtime riders something new to work toward.
Called the “Factory Tour”, this challenge has Zwifters powering a RoboPacer factory with our watts. The more watts you put out, the faster you’ll complete the challenge. But it’s no small challenge, and there’s a hidden extra part 2! Here’s a quick video walkthrough:
Learn all about this new Challenge, including unlocks and more, on our All About Zwift’s New Factory Tour Challenge post.
“Tair Dringfa Fechan” Route Is Open
Zwift’s release notes say, “New badge alert: The Tair Dringfa Fechan route in Watopia is now available for free ride.” But that’s not entirely accurate, as the badge was actually added back in November, before races took on this route as the final race of ZRL Round 2 on December 17th.
Be that as it may, today the route changes from being event-only to being available for free rides in game. So all you badge hunters who didn’t race ZRL now have a chance to earn this route badge, and with it the 625XP bonus!
Read all about Tair Dringfa Fechan route >
Release Notes
Zwift provided notes on additional tweaks and bug fixes in this update:
- In the Zwift Companion Action Bar, the Camera View and Emote menus now automatically close after making a selection.
- We made it easier to see what you’ve selected when browsing details of events, routes, Climb Portal, and Pacer group rides on the home screen.
- FIT files now include power target data from workouts.
- We found the wooded park that went missing in central London and returned it to its proper location.
- Fixed an issue that could cause riders in the New York world to swerve at an intersection in Central Park.
- Stability improvements.
Discuss this update in Zwift’s forum >
Questions or Comments?
If you spotted any other changes or bugs in the update, please comment below!
Finally, a new challenge!!! The socks would be quite interesting to try out..
Halo bikes update?
Coming soon!
Nice! Great vid as ever
ROTFL 🙂
they lost the park but have now found it 😉
regards
Artur
I had all sorts of weird visual glitches in my first ride after the update. Richmond and London lost all their buildings and much of their pavement. Makuri dropped down to 5 fps. Restarting the app fixed most of the issues, but the coloring/lighting/shading still felt a bit off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGReSFa8Tbk
Yea Tair Dringfa Fechan is open!!!!
Have you been able to free ride it? Mine still says Event Only
Getting the Hilly Route Reverse is almost impossible, barely any events. This should become freeride!
I see some events, but almost always scheduled for when I’m supposed to be at work or sleeping.
Start up a Club and schedule one for yourself! Easy peasy.
“In the Zwift Companion Action Bar, the Camera View and Emote menus now automatically close after making a selection.”
Does this mean I can no longer ring the bell 3 times without also going via the emote menu 3 times? That is a thing for passing 100 km and 100 miles #enduranceriderproblems =)
Wow more socks, the mind boggles. Is this really the best they can come up with.
Did the update, logged in to accept the challenge and noticed I had a new item in the garage. Logged in and had a new frame, the “Specialized Venge” with the tri spoke wheels. Can’t honestly say that I remember buying the bike or winning the wheels, but there ya go. Weird eh?
Same thing happened to me. It’s related to the California Challenge:
“Note: until late 2023, the Ride California challenge unlocked the Specialized S-Works Tarmac. If you completed the challenge before this change happened, you can rejoin the challenge and automatically unlock the Venge frame above.” https://zwiftinsider.com/ride-california/
Thank you. Now I have a more useful Venge bike. 👍
Once a route has been selected and its parameters developed, there is a ‘START’ button on the right-hand side of the screen – at the bottom.
And this is nothing new.
Except that in v1.85 it is COSMICALLY HUGE.
It takes up the entire width of the ‘parameters bar’ and is as tall as the Eifel Tower 😉
Some time ago, the option to change the ‘size’ of the home screen (several predefined tile sizes) was removed from the options, leaving only one size in addition the tiles are large.
Now they are getting down to ‘buttons’.
What is the aim of the developer responsible for the GUI?
He gets paid by the pixel?
Is this new skin a bug?
Looks cool but not forever 😵💫
Ewwww!
Eric do you know anything about what this is supposed to mean?
All I’ve noticed is that the big button to start your ride after signing up for an event is… bigger!
they’ve also changed late join so that when you join youre behind 80% of the field
correction – position is random as ive late joined the big spin and been at 80% but then others have joined and been at 25%
Is it just me or did a lot of trees disappear (at least in Watopia)? Feels like some roads got stretched, moved as well…
Since the latest update I have had the same message when I joined a Pacer ride in France telling me that this ride is no longer available but it still lets me join. Unfortunately at the next turn the ride will turn one way and I end up going the other way and today it seems I am not alone either.
Still coming to grips with Pedal Games but it is amazing the amount of draft benefit you can get, even 20m away from a rider gets you some too. Only down side for me was I had to change from Full Screen to Windows otherwise I couldn’t see the various boxes on the Zwift screen.
Did they remove the weekly streak from the game?
Not as far as I know. It was working earlier this week.