It was big news when Zwift began testing their new Zwift Racing Score (ZRS) metric in early July, because that meant results-based race categorization could be coming soon.
Now, around 3 months into testing, Zwift is putting the final touches on ZRS and preparing to release it as the de facto race categorization method on the platform.
Let’s look at the latest tweaks Zwift has made to ZRS, and how they plan to roll it out.
Racing Score Changes
In a recent forum post, Zwift outlined the latest changes made to the scoring algorithm. (Some of these changes may have not yet rolled out quite yet, but they will all be live very soon):
- Podium Bonuses: The top 3 finishers in each scored race are now receiving a podium bonus meant to help move racers up a category faster if they are regularly winning.
- Finalized Subgroup Score Ranges: Zwift has defined the score ranges they will use for Zwift-owned races and recommend for community organizers. (For more information, see this forum topic.)
- Faster Score Calculation: Scores are calculated and adjusted as each racer crosses the finish line, instead of being finalized after 12 hours to account for DNF’s. This will eliminate issues where individual scores would drop when checking the day after a race.
- 3×10-Minute Activity Requirement: Riders must now have at least three 10+ minute activities recorded in the last 90 days in order to race a scored event. This helps ensure an accurate seed score, to improve initial subgroup placement.
- ZwiftPower Score Range Filters: ZwiftPower.com will be updated so users can continue tracking General Classification (GC) standings after event series like the Zwift World Series move to score-based subgroups.
- Bug Fix for Stuck Low Scores: Zwift says they’ve “fixed an issue where scores that drop too low get stuck with low values even after winning several races.”
Potential Changes
ZRS is graduating from Zwift Labs “beta” status in October, but it may continue to evolve over time. Zwift says they are investigating the following changes:
- Enhancing the seed algorithm to incorporate a broader range of historical data, considering the performance of racers who are transitioning back indoors after an outdoor riding season
- Measures to prevent intentional score manipulation
- Category enforcement applied when joining an event instead of at sign up
- An historical view of how your score has changed over time
Those all sound like great improvements to me!
Rollout Plan
As promised, Zwift will be rolling out ZRS in October! It will be used in the following events beginning on the given dates:
- Zwift World Series – Round 2 (Sep 16)
- ZRacing Monthly – Community Racing Festival (Oct 7)
- Zwift Racing Clubs (Oct 7)
- Zwift Academy – Makeup Races (Oct 28-Nov 4)
- Community Racing Events (Oct 7)
The last item, “Community Racing Events”, is a big one! While the first four items listed are all Zwift-owned events, that final item includes all races organized by the Zwift community. In talking to Zwift, they stated that their intention is to have all community-organized races shown on the public events calendar moved ZRS by October 7.
Private events can still use the old category enforcement groups or other systems, and ZRL and WTRL Thursday TTTs will not be using ZRS due to their custom categorization schemes.
This means that effectively every race you’ll see on the events calendar will be using ZRS beginning October 7.
Seed Score Reset and Details
On September 25, Zwift reset everyone’s Racing Score to their seed score. (Anecdotally, my score went from 589 – a score based on results in several scored races – to my pure seed score of 591. It seems like Zwift’s seed score algorithm has me pinned quite accurately!)
More about seed score:
That score is calculated based on your maximum power outputs for 30 seconds (CP30) and 10 minutes (CP600) from the past 90 days. These data points were selected after analyzing hundreds of thousands of combinations to ensure the most accurate and reliable base score calculation possible.
This extensive analysis allowed us to fine-tune the scoring model, ensuring it reflects a racer’s true performance across various metrics and conditions. It’s important to note that CP30 and CP600 are not equally weighted in the scoring process; the longer effort (CP600) has a greater influence on the final score. These values are normalized by weight and adjusted for fairness across performance levels, resulting in a seed score between 0 and 1000.
Zwift
Wrapping It Up
This latest round of updates and event changes looks to be the final major evolution of Zwift Racing Score prior to its big launch. And that big launch is big news! Zwift Racing Score superseding power-based categories will literally change the game when it comes to Zwift Racing.
It hasn’t been easy to differentiate the signal from the noise when it comes to racers offering their feedback on ZRS vs other categorization methods. (Are racers complaining because categories have shifted and they’re no longer at the top, or do they have legitimate complaints?) But our poll in August seemed to indicate that ZRS was a big improvement, and this latest round of tweaks addresses some of the key remaining complaints we’ve seen (like riders winning but not moving up fast enough, and riders being seeded at too low of a category).
I, for one, see ZRS as a major improvement over the old power-based scheme. And I’m hopeful that ZRS will improve even more with the latest changes and wider usage. Let’s race!
Your Thoughts
Are you excited to see ZRS rolling out across all of Zwift racing? Got concerns? Share your thoughts below!
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