The Coronavirus crisis has certainly refocused minds at Zwift HQ. The sudden surge in users came at a time when the platform typically becomes a little quieter, which also tends to be the point in the year that Zwift release their larger updates. They had to focus not just on ensuring the platform was robust enough to cope with 40,000 concurrent users, but the typical use case was also shifting, with more users using Meetups as club riders moved their usual IRL sessions to Zwift.
We assume that with the Olympics postponement, the rumored Tokyo course release was put on hold. The UI update was also delayed as it was considered too big a change to introduce with so many new riders on board. Instead, Zwift has put all of their efforts into getting the Tour De France worlds created – a huge marketing opportunity with pro riders racing through July.
The result of this marketing drive on long-term Zwift subscriber numbers will not be known for some time, but it feels like once the TdF races are done, there is a big opportunity to focus on elevating the core platform to a higher standard. Undeniably, there are a number of feature requests that have been in the ether for some time, so in my opinion, this is the opportunity to tick these off and lay the foundations for the longer-term Zwift future.
Here’s my list of what I’d like to see Zwift work on next. This is basically a list of refinements rather than revolution. Most of this is not blue sky stuff – it’s getting the basics right.
Worlds / Roads
No new worlds needed for a while (with Tokyo also ready). Instead focus on:
- Expanding existing worlds – Watopia and France are especially open to development, but New York also has half-created roads. Put meat on the bones of these worlds to add density. This should be less developer-resource intensive than creating new worlds.
- Add in mountain bike and gravel tracks that interweave with existing tracks – for multiple additional route options that give reason to use the mountain and gravel bikes.
- Improve assets and fix graphical errors throughout existing worlds – continuous improvement. For example, there is currently a tree growing through part of the New York Highline track, and a boulder in the middle of the jungle. Sometimes riders sink 6 inches into the road. The worlds can become more immersive slowly over time.
- *A Velodrome would still be an awesome addition but is reliant on significant other changes listed below.
UI
The new UI is incoming so there are a number of things that we can assume will be fixed – like not having to restart the game to switch routes. Ideally the UI should also include:
- A clearer gradient profile and position on route
- Distance left on route
- Route builder – design your own route. For example, could design a 90km time trial route through Watopia. These could even be shared in the community and the best ones incorporated into the core game.
- Customisable HUD – let us choose the elements that matter. For example, power or speed may not be necessary if using the Companion App.
Racing
Additional race formats could be enabled which are supported by the UI and require no 3rd party service. Examples include:
- Elimination races – cull the lowest X% each lap – show you if you are at risk coming up to the lap banner
- Points races – show points totals and highlight where the Primes are
- Chase races
- Team time trials managed in-game (on TT bikes, able to draft your teammates)
Other racing improvements:
- Category structure (auto-assigned) – work up through categories. Use the big data of power profiles to make races as fair as possible. Results at the end of a race should be valid without relying on 3rd party services
- Allow event organisers finer control – e.g. no zPower riders
- Post-event, all riders should enter a ‘clubhouse’ or coffee shop, where you can analyse the results and chat with the people you rode with, give Ride Ons, etc
- Accuracy – server winner should correlate with visual winner. This looks terrible in pro races when the winner is not the one that everybody saw cross the line first.
Physics
- Increase the draft to allow for realistic recovery
- Remove sticky draft
- Cornering – slow down through corners. This works well in RGT Cycling, which is currently some way ahead of Zwift for physics accuracy.
- Downhill – pack speeds are unrealistic and stop attacks over the top being effective. Limit pack speed downhill, and slow through corners. The bigger the pack the slower it should move through tight corners. 80km/h through a hairpin is a long way from realistic. A lone rider on a technical course typically descends faster than a pack
Other
- Clubs – arrange meetups (which can include race formats). Use a generator for a club kit (clubs above 30 members?). Enter races as a team.
- Proximity audio – ability to talk to riders nearby to plan an attack, or limit audio to team members.
- Wider range of avatars and kit (bikes, helmets) – make it simple for brands to get their kit in game.
- Levels above 50
- More challenges and badges – it is clear that Zwifters love achievements, such as gathering all the route badges.
- Companion app – access to everything other than riding. Badges, Garage, Drop Shop, etc. Ability to configure the display like a bike computer, so you can remove metrics from the main screen.
This list is by no means comprehensive, and there is always value in adding features that people were not aware that they wanted (like Boost Mode or new powerups). However, if the majority of this list was achieved in the coming months I think Zwifters would be a lot more comfortable seeing some of the wilder and broader stuff being added!
Your Thoughts
What key features do you think are missing from this list? Is Zwift focusing on the right things? What are the top priority changes? Let me know in the comments below!
Timing of the ride to be from when the event starts, not when you first land in the pens
That’s how it already works, though…?
The total time given for your ride counts, as Michelle says. If you look back on strava it shows the total time.
Pretty sure you can edit your ride in Strava to crop the pen time if you want.
How do you do that Robert?
In Zwift Activities history, if you finish a race in 25:17 but were in the pens and pedaling 8 minutes early, you’ll see a ride duration of 33:17. The race results (if it’s a race) will still report 25:17, but the ride time add you scan through activities will be 33:17.
Agreed. And it would be great to have time spent in the pen count towards drops and level ups. Currently, it feels punitive to show up early. I know there’s a hack around it, but there shouldn’t need to be.
Also The time crossing the finish line during the race and the zwift/ZP results are always different. This happens all the time. I crossed the line in CP in 26:52 and the results on Zwift and ZP said 27:10. Every race. Coming from a running background this drives me crazy. Thanks. Always add on 10-15 seconds and does not match the slider time under activities using the zwift app.
This actually happens when you enter the game after selecting desired route e.g. Richmond 2015 UCI Course. Instead of placing you at the original start line the game places you some distance before the actual start line, therefore you are actually riding further than the course distance. I would like to see riders placed at the start line of the chosen route rather than some distance away so the true course distance and be ridden.
I always just look at “Ride Time” on Strava. Never paid attention to the Zwift “time”. But yeah, I see that now… huh.
What about distance during this warm up session too?
Enter an event, quit, go do the warmup, quit, return to the event and you are in your same “position” in the pens.
These are some amazing ideas. Would love to see atleast half of these ideas implemented.
My biggest gripe is an oldy but a goody; EXIT TO MAIN MENU. My laptop is 6 years old and takes so long to reopen zwift if I just want to change worlds!
On Windows, getting away from the ridiculous situation of having to completely exit to do things like switch courses etc would be a big step forward. End Ride should take you back to the Zwift startup page, not right out of the application. That’s confusing for newcomers and irritating for old hands.
And why can you only view badges from inside a ride?
It’s the same problem on a Mac- End Ride doesn’t take you back to the startup screen, it quits the app. Ridiculous.
Agree. I prefer basic functionality updates to new courses.
Agree! When you end a ride you shouldn’t have to go so far back or out of Zwift. My biggest pain point is linking all of my bluetooth equipment. You should only have to do that once each ride. I think all of these things should be controlled or able to be controlled through the companion app.
Been good to see people’s weight and the trainer difficulty
I disagree with that because it doesn’t make racing more realistic to know that data. It’s already a little strange that I can see someone’s power output. Let Zwift sort out the weight privately when they fix the race categorization problem (if they ever do that)
It would actually be interesting to race without being able to se W/kg on other riders
Only if the sandbagging issue is resolved. It’s nice to be able to see that racer123 is so far outside category specs that you know he will be DQ and you don’t need to chase him.
I think the frustration for me is that the data is being transferred to Strava. But to making a race more realistic surely everybody should feel the same gradient. Riding at 100% feels harder than 0% for the same watts. But then what do ppl do who don’t have smart trainers.
Just change your gear!
I always thought this would be a good way to address weight doing with avatars being thinner or thicker depending on weight/height inputted. Where unrealistic numbers come out as skeletons.
my avatar seems to reflect my height and weight. I wish I were as muscular IRL
There are actually 3 different body sizes in game. Not too drastically different from one to the other, but the skinny ones should be like toothpicks lol
But in a race I can gauge weight visually. If I got some skinny guy on my wheel and we are approaching climb, I know I need to create a gap on him.
It would be nice if people were prevented from entering a lower category race than the minimum shown in ZwiftPower – yes I know its a 3rd party but that it something else Zwift needs to address… The ZHQ City Crit Beta race is a great format – you only see the people in the same category that you are competing against. However, it doesn’t stop people entering the wrong category and having everyone else chase them like crazy! Chasing someone who produces much more power than the category limit is a depressing and painful experience no matter what category… Read more »
as much as I agree and do want the change the satisfaction is so much better knowing I managed to keep with people 1 or even 2 cats above me for a CRIT, dont get me wrong I`m red lining but gains are gains.
Trainer difficulty? You do realise that 100% is NOT the same feeling for everyone? If you think you are creating a level playing field by making everyone have the same setting, you don’t understand the intricacies of how a trainer simulates gradient.
Yip. TD is just gearing. If one really wants to understand TD… stay in same gear and move the TD slider as and when shifting is required. It’s just gears.
exactly – it’s no different to running a different cassette
James what I want is lap progress compare bar. Red if I’m behind my previous lap green ahead, and then how many seconds.
Yeah guess like a bike computer have stats like avg speed lap speed max speed avg cadence etc
Like ghost mode in rally driving games, an outline of your avatar of the last fastest lap you did. That would be great.
Yes, I’d love that. Much of the time I am competing against my own PB, so would be great to have a ghost as a gauge. (Could also be of the next best, or best of people you are following)
Yes I hate seeing people 40 seconds ‘ahead’ of me who are 8kms behind me in a lap race
Zwift needs to give its subscribers more notice of upcoming Zwift tours like the current TDF. I’m sure they gave the pros more than a few days notice of the pro TDF. Give us the same courtesy. A lot of us like to plan out our training weeks or months in advance with Training Peaks or other programs, some administered by coaches.
Dates, Times, Courses would be helpful a month in advance. Not some nebulous “TDF is coming in July”
Nice list, agree with all of them but have picked out a few…
Slowing down in corners would change events, having to accelerate out of them as you would in real life. The slow down could be automatic and if there was an auto-braking indicator on screen it could be used tactically
Definitely want a clearer upcoming gradient indicator – the current one is tiny and near useless on undulating courses (I use iPad, maybe it’s better on PC?)
The gradient graph is completely broken on iPad on the London hills (have reported but remains unfixed)
The thing I don’t like about corner braking is that it would break years worth of segment data for those of us who use Strava (like the dirt slowdown did on the Jungle circuit in Watopia, but for pretty much every segment, everywhere). Maybe roll it out for new courses only?
Also, can confirm that the gradient display on the London hills is broken on Windows, too.
The same thing happens IRL – freshly paved roads eventually turn into pothole nightmares – segment data changes. What was once a 10 minute PR can no longer be achieved.I’d rather see game improvements, then worry about my segment data. On our weekly WTRL TTT, there are often course records that were “pre-resistance” on the gravel sections, and that is ok.
It’s true what you say about segment data, although KOM and sprint times would largely be unaffected. Maybe it could be done at the same time as being mapped onto a proper virtual world in Strava (instead of badly overlaid on the real world) which would reset everything to zero for a fresh start (I realise the chances of Zwift & Strava talking and doing this right would be virtually nil)
I am not so sure that getting Zwift and Strava talking about these things would be the problem … more whether Strava were prepared to alter their own infrastructure to accommodate changes to the way Zwift ride GPS is recorded (and then update it when new worlds are added). I assume the reason Watopia (and now France) are overlaid on real, remote locations is so that Strava don’t have to change anything in their system to make it work with virtual rides not intruding on real ones. I would love to see Watopia properly represented on Strava (and Garmin Connect… Read more »
Or maybe have 30 day/90 day/1 year/ All-time PRs and segment boards.
Bring back the fence. Group rides too frequently turn into group races. Maybe the ability to boot riders at the leaders’ choice.
Absolutely! Booting riders needs to be automated since leaders already have enough to do.
I think the group rides are actually better when they break up into smaller similar paced groups. It’s a better experience for everyone. It shouldn’t affect your ride in any way if there’s a group riding off and you still have 10-30 in your group. Just let people do what works for them. Especially if the only thing it hurts is your ego.
I agree. What negatively affects my ride is ride leaders incessantly babbling about flyers. DQ them and move on, or don’t. But please don’t rant about the, the entire ride.
I have always wondered why they don’t have group rides that have multiple categories? e.g. Monday Morning Breakfast Ride Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D. Then you just pick your group and ride with people in your cat. You wouldn’t have a leader, but might not need one.
When riding a selected route Elevation profiles should reflect your route, not just the current road. Often after a turn the profile changes complete.
Absolutely! This would be especially important if Zwift provides customized routes. One can imagine creating a route, enjoying a route, perhaps even getting a customized “Route Complete” message after the first ride. And then forgetting a detail about which arch is the actual end point when riding the same customized route a second time, especially if that occurs a few weeks later.
Brilliant suggestion. Recently I was racing laps of the short lap in Innsbruck, and the profile was utterly irrelevent.
Great idea, How simply but how right
More cow bell.
Actually, you get bird noises and such- why not cows? Dogs? Cowbell- what the hell, why not?
Jens voight commentary on your ride
This is what you were referring to, right?
https://youtu.be/cVsQLlk-T0s
Or more air horn. Both are good. 🙂
When finishing a prescribed route give an indication that it is complete. Currently it only does this the first time you do it.
That is THE most important change and easy too – very good point!!
But isn’t the only time that it really matters is the first time when you get your badge? Otherwise close seems to be ok because you’re only riding for miles or kms anyway. It would be nice to have a banner each time but it doesn’t seem critical.
It matters when your target for your ride was to complete the route – whether you’ve done it before or not. It could give you a smaller confirmation than when you win a badge.
Agree! I would also like to see my time pop up for that route. It would be interesting to know (quickly) how my time compares to my previous trips around that route.
More levels from 50 to 100 perhaps
I’d like to see an easy and obvious way to navigate all elements in Apple TV. I haven’t been able to navigate to the on-screen larger course view in the upper right hand corner to change it, and is like to change it. Also broader Android tablet support and Chromebook support. I have a Galaxy Tab A the runs Companion but not Zwift proper. That tablet plus Chromecast would solve my UI problems also.
Easier switching between worlds, I’d love to be able to do the shorter loop in Innsbruck then head over to Richmond for a lap of the UCI course then over to watopia to round the ride up to an hour or whatever I was planning to ride.
I’m not always near a mouse/keyboard on my trainer so having to exit and reload isn’t easy and requires getting off and on the bike each time.
In your Garage choose maybe 3 or 5 kits and 3 or 5 bike/wheels combinations as a favourite, so you don’t have to scroll trough a long list every time.
Yeah, having a storage/archive cabinet for the bikes/wheels and kits you don’t use often or at all would be great. Doing a bike switch during a “Road to Ruins” event is a little clumsy when you have to scroll through 10 bikes. I’m never going to be riding the Zwift bikes again and I’m unlikely to ever where the Noob Orange Zwift jersey…
I agree. How many of us will ride the basic Zwift bikes after acquiring a close to the top performer in any catagory? I haven’t ridden the basic Zwift roadbike since getting a Ribble and have hardly ridden the Ribble since getting a Tarmac and a Venge. I got a Parlee for the Parlee Mission and haven’t ridden it since either. I very seldom ride a mountain bike or a TT. And who rides a basic wheelset after getting one of the good all-arounders? The overabundance of kit that I don’t use is a clutter problem. Example: CeramicSpeed – haven’t… Read more »
Yes!
The kit I wear for 99% of free rides (WBR 2018) is currently mired around 80% of the way down my list of available kits. Every time I get a new kit, I have to go hunting for it again.
It needs a feature whereby you can re-order the list, so you put your favourites to the top. Easily done.
How about reselling option for some drops back? Or gifting it to another rider? Once you get to a certain level you only really use a couple of set ups.
Eric I agree with Michelle. Time sitting in pens is added to your ride time currently?!
I would love to see the ability to chase yourself, against a ghost rider (or maybe just a +/- time) representing your fastest time on a course. This is a feature in some car racing video games I thought would be cool in Zwift. BTW, Zwift is the greatest thing ever! I cannot tell you how much it has improved my fitness!!
Really cool suggestion! Upvote!
I really like that idea, but I think it needs to be able to be switched off and on easily maybe with the companion app or basic menu on screen. That way you do not have a ghost with you 24/7. This would not be ideal for most rides, only when trying to best your PB.. tricky to get this right.
Great improvements but please don’t put the price up again 😐
😣If it goes past $20, I’m out and back to GCN videos on the trainer. I still do a GCN workout video about once a week.
A great list and as others have said, would be great if even half are implemented. One nit-picky physics aspect to implement is smoother gradient changes. As it is now, gradients change in whole numbers (1%, 2%, etc.). I’ve ridden other virtual programs where gradients are smoother (e.g. done in tenths of a grade). It’s a subtle difference but feels more realistic (especially if using the KICKR Climb). But more roads is my #1 request!
The actual gradient sent to your trainer (and KICKR climb) has decimals… it’s just the display of the gradient that is whole numbers.
You can know this because the Climb will adjust itself up and down even while the gradient number stays the same on screen.
You are sometimes given an indicator when gradient number changes colour. Green 6% changes to red 6% before going up to 7% (still red) for example.
How about an indicator of the most recent trainer/power meter calibration date, especially in races? If done sensibly, it will teach newbies that such things exist and it will remind old timers to calibrate before racing. I do this all the time now, sometimes even in the middle of a long ride if, say, a thunderstorm comes up and causes the temperature in my garage to drop 20 degrees mid-ride (I train in a garage with no heat or A/C). However, I was zwifting nearly 9 months at first without realizing that calibration was a thing. Also, get all trainer… Read more »
On the calibration, some sort of notification indicating the results would be useful. I would like to know if it were under/over-reporting watts before the calibration.
Re: “unearned badges” – I got three of the wattage badges (up to 1200) during my first few pedal strokes on one ride!
I tried Zwift Support, and they seemingly can’t revoke a badge … seems like that capability could be easily added to Admin users/tech support, or even us end users?!?
This happened to me last week and I got the 2k watts one and I’m like uhhhh?
I received my wattage badges my 2nd Zwift ride. I was goofing around, didn’t even know you could get wattage badges and I make the confession that I wanted to see what the screen would do if I left my orignial trainer disconnected at the wheel. Cheated without knowing it! Reality: at 64 years old, I peak at about 600 for 2 seconds 😉.
I earned a bunch of high wattage awards when my Kickr was dying. Zwift just could not understand my issue. Nice to know I am not the only person with this. For the record, I barely hit 500 watts–ever! LOL
Zwift is changing everything. For instance, here in the US, we’re still stuck with Standard units, and it’s hard to get the hang of metric distances beyond metric century, etc. It would be nice, in the HUD to be able to choose to see both km/h and mph as well as km/mi so that we Americans can “learn” what certain distances feel like, or to have an idea of what “2 km remaining” feels like. Eventually, the user would be able to turn off the hybrid and go strictly metric like the rest of the world. (Take off the training… Read more »
I love this idea. It’d be great to see an optional metric and imperial display at the same time as a learning tool.
It’s funny, I have to convert kilometers to miles in my head to know how far I’ve gone or have to go, until I get under 1000 meters then I know how far that is better than fractions of a mile.
I have a print out on the wall showing KMs and Miles which I printed off.
Using 10 KM jumps it’s easy to read across to convert.
I use KMs as you actually get more points for levels per ride than miles. 😋
I made the switch for XPs and it took a bit but i’ve really gotten used to it. Seeing 50km instead of 30mi is also a bit of a motivational boost.
You can sort of do this now. You can have the game set for metric and the companion app set for Imperial, so it’ll display miles on the dashboard or map.
That’s a great idea. If I grew up in America I would be frustrated at having to persist with imperial
Fortunately we have no end to other frustrations to take our mind off of that.
Amen.
Why not just do some maths on your head as you are riding?
I would also add improved graphics and/or game engine. If you have seen the GTA5 mod for riding with trainer, the graphics are stunning and make Zwift appear antiquated in comparison. No, this does nothing for training or racing, but provides more eye candy and more immersive experience. That said, there more important fixed needed as documented in this article and in the comments and should be addressed first.
I think the current graphics quality is OK (not great), but a big improvement would be the graphics *realism*. For solo rides, I often use the camera mode that switches angles every 10-30 seconds, and it has all kinds of weird artifacts, like the camera passing through your (or another rider’s) body, passing through the rocks and snowbanks on the side of the Alpe, etc.
Solid objects need to be solid, whether it’s the terrain, or other riders!
Yeah, the passing through a rider effect is a little creepy…
Unless its the boulder on the Jungle route. Yesterday a gentleman passed by me on the right side shoulder and went straight through the big boulder. 😲
“I would also add improved graphics”
As long as they don’t start to restrict the systems it can run on. My laptop runs Zwift brilliantly, but the crappy onboard video hardware won’t run GTA5 reliably. That is fine with me, because the machine is mostly used for planning and marking schoolwork and some programming work.
I would rather see Zwift dealing with the sort of things on Eric’s list, to be honest.
Having enough different texture maps shouldn’t be too hard to keep it running on everything, but sometimes you need to upgrade. Think of it like a new bike computer or replacing a rim or something.
I had a longer comment that got lost, but suffice it to say for $180/year, the graphics are atrocious and look like they are from an average 2007 game.
Ability to swap courses or even worlds without fully exiting.
That is so annoying…they really need to fix it
Whoa whoa settle down mate. Do you know how hard that is?!
… Me neither, but they’ve been working on it for 4 years, so it must be damn hard! 🤦♂️
As a fairly new user of Zwift (3+ months), and having watched a number of the recent pro races/events, two thing stand out, but I haven’t seen them discussed anywhere: – avatars aren’t solid – riding through another rider seems pretty weird to me – in a pack, the game engine causes the avatars to make very sudden/unrealistic adjustments in position, and accelerations seem very exaggerated. From the perspective of Zwift as a streaming platform for events like the vTDF, I would assume that a lot of new viewers would be put off by this … In contrast, the recent… Read more »
All these recommendations are excellent. I would love.yo see them implemented.
Having multi-day stage races would be cool addition.
Linux version of Swift.
Hi Jason, I’ve put together a guide on how to run Zwift on Linux here: https://jamiemagee.co.uk/blog/zwift-on-linux/
Fence!
Why not save bike kits with a shortcut, without having to select the frame and wheels every time?
Points based racing system alright 👍
All of this and i woul add the wind .
I hate to say it, but lack of wind is one of the reasons I ride zwift. I get off of the mid-Columbia and Horse Heaven hill winds that so frequently pop up at 20-25 MPH in the warm months. Winter is cold and I Zwift. When the wind isn’t blowing, I often do a 40 mile roundtrip commute to work, this year it’s only been an average 1 or 2 times a week.
1) Not losing ride details so darn easily! Lost my Stage 2 Tour du France Casse-Pattes Event ride this morning. Only shows I did a ride in France. No PRs or completion badges ect… 2) It would be nice to have some confirmation that I am actually on the route I selected once in game. I selected Everything Bagel the other day and the Route Completion Banner never turned up. After giving up and viewing my ride, I saw I was just doing the Park Perimeter over and over which I didn’t select and didn’t even get the completion banner… Read more »
I’ve never had #2 happen to me but I don’t look forward to that, especially when you’re doing something involved like either of the PRL’s or long Watopia routes.
Yeah, Not great. My husband and children were waiting for me to get the completion banner that I kept saying should turn up any minute after 37 km. It was my first 3 bidon route attempt.
This morning I didn’t get my Event recorded in my activity on Companion or get the jersey after 47 km even though it’s on Zwift Power. It’s been a bit of a disappointing week on Zwift. I am quite new and don’t know who to contact. We pay a monthly subscription so should be able to contact someone. I want my Jersey!
Try the contact page, here … https://zwift.com/uk/contact-us
or post your issue in the forums here … https://forums.zwift.com/
NY – Broadway from Bridge to Bridge, giving a whole Manhatten Island, take some pressue of Park Loop and maybe throw in an Alleycat race.
In general need more flat & rolling terrain as thats where the bikes are at.
The road mix on the France Map looks analytics driven, with Ventoux tacked on to keep the climbers happy.
Me, I love punching through the new twisting rollers on the France Map, Titans grove without the KOM in the middle or a far longer Esses 🙂
Flats good for pure volume, polarised training, if a bit flat…
I love the punchy and flat courses too. Are that many people even doing the mountain courses and with any sort of frquency? I doubt it.
I might be the odd one out, but my most used route is the Alpe de Zwift. But i also ride at least 3000m+ in an average week outside …
An easier way to give ride-ons during a group ride/race would be nice. In the last mega events, having to scroll looking for a name (in case you want to give a specific ride on), or simply having to give them individually is annoying and cumbersome.
I don’t understand why in free rides it is available with a double click but not in races/group rides
Losing the Ride On button on the Zwift Companion app during events is annoying too. The button resets about 5 times faster when you’re leading a meet-up than just a free ride but I would settle for having it just work during an event.
I’d certainly like an easier way to be able to locate a rider who has just given me a ride-on to be able to give one back to them
When I first started Zwifting, this was so counterintuitive. I kept trying to click on their name in the HUD display to give them one back and it wasn’t until I went googling that I found out it didnt work. Likewise, the “click on arrow” in companion app – only works when map zoomed appropriately, and default is NOT approriately. I thought it just didn’t work until one day I accidentally zoomed, saw the white circle and clicked. If they want to leverage the social aspect, giving ride-ons really needs to improve, and partnering with Discord for a simplified in-game… Read more »
I feel like mountain biking and gravel stuff are just gimmicks to be honest. Much better use of time to focus on other matters
For a triathlete it appears you’re fixated on cycling, or perhaps you don’t have access to a TM. It’s pretty sad when long standing Zwift Run bugs, ie. race timing, don’t get fixed for months and months. You want refinements; runners want a product that works as advertised – and, yes we know it’s free at present. Signed: A Zwift cyclist, runner, rower.
Fair point, but I am fortunate enough to have great trails and a track by me, so the treadmill tends to only get used in the winter. The treadmill is not my favourite device. I’m a fair weather cyclist but not runner 😂
Your suggestions under “other racing improvements” and “physics” were spot on. I really hope they’re implemented.
Teams or following leaderboards within events, to be able to see how you are performing against your mates.
Great ideas, hope Zwift reads this :-).
Having all the worlds available all the time instead of the “3 at a time” calendar would be nice.
Would be nice to turn of this absolutely useless and annoying group chat on Apple TV.
i ride the L’Etape de Tour today and it was impossible to turn of the chat.
I’m using zwift for cycling and not for reading some BS from people I even don’t know.
its already way to busy on the screen at zwift, I don’t need more traffic from a chat.
This bugs me as well. Really annoying to read people cracking shitty jokes when you’re sweating out up ADZ. Would love a Silence button
Can’t you turn it off under “settings”?
There is a setting on Apple TV to turn off the chat, like on the other platforms, but it doesn’t work – I think it worked earlier, but I noticed yesterday, that it doesn’t work any longer (and in an event with 4k+ participants, that chat is just annoying as h***)
Worked for me this morning on Apple TV… worth a try if it’s bugging you.
Even if you do that, it’s not off on group rides, unfortunately.
Something to spend drops on like tires tubes and components, with percentage of wear indicated, older stuff would make you slower.
More MTB courses and a route builder would be allot of fun in the group rides.
PR bots so you can race and compare to yourself on complete routes and climbs. We now have 2 climbs and no real time segments available to measure yourself against your best as you ride ( the corner to corner comparison on the Alpe is meaningless to me).
It was coming 2 years ago but never has unfortunately.
Lap times and billboard with laps left at crit city, besides all the suggestions you made
Judging by the incredible number of comments in the two hours since this was posted is a strong indicator of community desire to see these things implemented. I cannot recall a post with so much response here!
Good job James and Eric!
The Zwift community loves to discuss potential improvements—it’s always been that way. And James’ list is a solid one!
I have long thought that Zwift could have mobile “roadworks” where 20 first riders moved quicker through it. It should be well exposed on the map. But the placement should be random. This would be an easy way to make the tracks more dynamic. Waiting for more asphalt.
Another thing I have been thinking about for a long time and which touches on one of the ideas above. TTT where you only get Draft from your teammates. then the race could start at the same time and in the beginning the riders have to find each other.
Agree with streamlining the TTT event starts. This has become an immensely popular event, and warrants some upgrades.
I _like_ the tree through the NY highline! 😎
Are you sure it’s a tree and not a pickle?
I would love for Zwift to add more roads to the France world. It would be super cool if they add some medium length climbs that take around 20 minutes, and have multiple sides like the London climbs. I feel like Zwift is missing a 20 minute climb that has a steady 7 or 8 percent gradient. I agree with almost everything you suggest. Nice post!
The Innsbruck climbs are pretty close to that IMO.
Finish what they started with categories based on other than just 20 min power (5 and 1 min)…. Further they should look in to dividing the A cat in to at least 2, preferably 3 cats (A,A+;A++)… Looking at W/kg Coggan chart the A cat is ranging from:
a typical Cat 2 rider
through Cat 1
through Pro
through World Class riders + cheaters (intentional/unintentional)
The A class is just way too wide as it is… which makes it pretty uninteresting to race in A, unless you are in one of the latter categories.
I totally agree that there needs to be more categories. It is annoying that A category is basically for riders with FTPs between 4 and 7 w/kg. A category should be 4 to 4.8, A+ 4.8 to 5.5, and A++ 5.5 or better.
I don’t know whether you’ve ever raced outside Zwift, but this happens at club level racing all the time. When you have national champions show up to a club race, the regular club A graders (roughly equivalent to Cat1) have no hope and they know it, so it essentially becomes two races. For a lot of the regular clubbies, being able to say “I came second to <pro> in a race” is actually a better story to tell than “I won a club race”. So why not create an A+ grade for those club races? Well, there are such “A+”… Read more »
Yeah I like this idea. And maybe for large races if say 5 or more A+ riders show up they get put in a separate race.
You still want enough riders in each grade to make the race interesting/accessible. So maybe split the grades into half grades as a default (based on power), but merge the grades back again if there are too few in a grade. This also happens in club racing.
How about splitting all the races into differing numbers of categories based on # of riders? If there are only 12 riders, does it make sense to have 4 (or 5 with ladies) categories? If there are 4000 riders, they there can 20 categories of 200 each. Whatever they do, they need to get rid of the fixed categories. As a 52YO 2.8 w/kg rider, I will never podium in a C race with more than 10 riders without cheating, and I don’t have a lot of time left to improve before age takes over. I’d love to start a… Read more »
All the aforementioned ideas seem like worthy improvements. Personally I would like the ability to control steering and more realistic physics.