and that DOS-based Computrainer NEVER crashed. I suspect as many have said the graphics beefs represent the "grey-divide" between those of the pre Atari and post Atari generations.

The $ I send Zwift every month is more like a club membership than it is putting coins into a pinball machine. It's not really "the course" that I pay for as it is for the other players on the course.

Subtract the human interaction from Zwift, make the graphics insanely better and it wouldn't be any more engaging than doing the Orange County Tri in stunning pink and blue.

But dammit, get it to run on a Windows-based laptop properly and reliably.

---

http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

PLEASE add an option so you can turn off drafting. I know I can use a TT bike so I can't draft. Make it so people can't draft off me as well. Should be a very simple fix.

That is the biggest issue I have with the program.

Agreed. If they would address those two items, magic. And a manual lap button.

Heck, I'd like to see something as simple as avg HR, avg power (or normalized), avg speed, and avg cadence on the main screen while riding.

---

tinman

Also agree. A lap button would be great and and show tss as sometimes I just want to ride to a tss value.

I agree that you don't need to do it. I'm using zwift as a training tool and if I need a game, I'll launch Dark Souls.

But in theory if you want to make zwift a good game, the question is not about 'gamification'. Hell, LinkedIn has gamification elements, but it's not a game!

A good game is something that entertains through every aspect, from small movements to story. Here is an example of what I'm talking about. A short interview with developer of Dead Cells (great game, shitty graphics). See how much knowledge and effort they put simply into how a character jumps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtBNffzWhf4

As I was riding last night, I was thinking how nice it would be for the app to have voice recognition for powerups and navigation and chat as well as the ability to see elapsed time on your route, avg speed, lap speed. voice recognition would be nice because having to pick up my phone to type is basically not gonna happen, and typing on a keyboard on the bike is awkward as hell. So I never use navigation to explore different routes, and never use the chat feature. I would really like the ability to customize the display metrics, either in companion app or main app, or both. eg, I'm not riding with HR right now since my strap broke, so let me turn that off.

I'd say letting users control the experience more and more easily should be a top priority, even moreso than new maps.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Somehow this has devolved into a conversation about graphics, I think the problem that the original poster had and many other is not about the graphics, it' really more about little functionality aspects that would seem obvious to a 5 year old and are just done in backwards kind of way that leave you with a negative taste in your mouth and a feeling that Zwift just doesn't give a crap about their users.
Right or wrong I don't know, but I do know that is something that I and may other users feel and it has nothing to do with graphics.
So if you are pissing off a large portion of your customer base you are doing something wrong.
I do agree with slowman that a huge part of Zwift is the community, so why last month was my companion app chat feature crashing multiple times a ride so that basically I couldn't chat on any of the group rides I did, when I filed a ticket they acted like they never heard about it before, for reference I am on a iPhone 11 with all of the latest updates so it wasn't a hardware issue.

Yeah, I don't think that many people really care about graphics all that much. I mean, I had plenty of fun playing Space Invaders on my best friend's Atari and programming 8-bit games on my Commodore 64.
Graphics are nice to have, and they do matter in some game genres, but for Zwift? not really.

The main thing I want from graphics in Zwift is accurate positioning against other riders (and it would be nice if the avatars would respond with certain animations to different things, eg if someone sits up or attacks.

Another nice thing have the option of showing the "speed" of competitors, not just w/kg. Seriously, I weigh more than most I race against, so my W/kg isn't all that high but on a flat course my absolute power numbers will let me keep up.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Too many comments to respond to them all, but yes my intention was to point out all the users and money they receive from people invested in their company, but ignoring many of the simpler things that could keep those people happier.

I would gladly pay $30 a month if the basics of it worked better, it's not about the money for me I'm all in for paying services that work well and I can use daily.

A lot of the known issues have been talked about forever, but no changes to them. Courses should be available and updated more often, not so limited. Drafting and the actual ride mechanics in game are designed without real life cycling in mind. Go race in your category (in real life) and sit in the peloton, conserve your energy, and attack when the moment presents itself -- then go do that in a Zwift race, in your category and what you'll find is that you need to attack from the beginning and hold that effort just to sit in the peloton, just mash until the finish line...it's absolute garbage, no tactics just go balls out and hope you're the strongest. There could be a drafting animation to show when you're in the right position, similar to the pro cycling manager games and actually translates into a noticeable feel in your legs, or when I pass a rider I go around instead of through them...

The graphics aren't really the problem for me. I'm sure there are licensing deals and all that but why not give more customization to riders...helmets, glasses, socks, shoes? That seems like a simple one.

But yes I think Zwift is a value for the money I just think they are missing the obvious easier fixes and that's well documented on various forums and are well called out for ignoring the requests of paid users. Create more value and add the things the paid users have been asking for and then raise the prices if need be, it's time for an update. Glad to see Rapp stating something is upcoming, hope that is true.

Their system does seem to lack development. Having to close out the entire app after a ride is just dumb. No ghost or self-pacing option. Lack of metrics on UI. Racing is a joke now. Running has so few events that I don't even bother anymore.

---

_________________________________
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

The music upon upload is so annoying and repetitive. It needs to go. There needs to be more variation in the courses and I think mimicking real life courses with real life graphics would be a big step up. I lose interest pretty fast with the fake ass scenery of a place called Watopia that doesn't exist. Why not UCI Worlds from Bergen, Norway, actually showing more realistic graphics of that location? How about IM Worlds in Kona or Taupo? That would be legit! There are so many opportunities to grow the platform into something very special while keeping the cost around $20.

For a game that makes w/kg such a major factor in how everything works, it is absolutely stupid that the w/kg text is one of the smallest fonts in the whole UI. Does that make sense to anyone else? I end up spending 50% of my time in a race staring at this tiny little number in the right hand corner. They need to bite the bullet and pay for a real UI designer, because what exists now is crap.

Zwift are very lucky Peloton has not entered their side of the market. That company has a much larger cash base and could afford to fund a real dev studio for several years to build a Zwift killer. Sometimes I feel like the stakeholders at Zwift just want to cash out in a few years by selling to another company and don't care what happens long-term. So I don't expect there is much "future thinking" development going on and I doubt they are researching a better graphics/programming engine.

I like Watopia! I choose it all the time over the other cities. I find Yorkshire, London, Richmond, NY, and the new France courses really boring mostly because they are more realistic than Watopia. Climbing Ventoux is super boring. I don’t doubt it really looks like the real thing. I am sure Kona would be boring as hell on there. Have you seen the Queen K? Take away the charm Of Hawaii and sounds and wind and smell and the sun, and the course would be dreadful.

Also why can’t I see my all time PR’s instead of it resetting every 30 days?

I've recently injured my achilles by running and have previously only used TrainerRoad, but decided to try out Zwift last week, so I can offer a fresh pair of eyes on it for you.

I was very confused after signing up for a group ride that I couldn't select it from the home screen. I had to go to somewhere else, then switch. Confusing.
I am on a Kickr Snap and want to calibrate after a warm up. It's not so easy to do whilst riding. An auto-calibrate would be great, but I can see why it might not be easy to do.

I love the courses and group riding. I didn't know what the different power-ups are, they could explain it. Same with the blue drop things, what are they, how do I get them? I gather you can buy things with them. Am I at a disadvantage that I don't have these things? How much of a disadvantage?

I don't like that the speeds are so high. It's kind of unrealistic sometimes. A 44km group ride with 350m climbing was done in 1h yesterday. That's too fast!

I am on an iPad pro. It runs perfectly and the graphics look good. I don't really see that they need to improve. I tried to open spotify at the same time, but immediately got dropped. Not sure what that is about!

I guess I might get bored of Zwift after a while (it sounds like many here have), but in comparison to TrainerRoad it is very interesting. I'll stay subscribed to TrainerRoad too though for the training plans and to support the great podcast.

THIS!! yes, thank you. I mean seriously, why in the world is the W/KG not prominently displayed in the big blue square on the top left.
I use my iPad for my zwifting and it's nearly impossible for me to see that metric.
I was doing a TTT last week and the other guys were telling me what w/kg to do while I was on the front.....I basically had to squint like crazy while trying to ride hard but smooth all while my HR is at 185.

---

----------------------------
http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise

Yeah the learning curve is a bit steep, I have been using Zwift since Covid hit and still have not figured everything out, but the group rides are great.
Agreed that Zwift makes it pretty complicated to figure things out
There are some good websites, facebook groups and youtube videos that help out.
This is a really good one
https://zwiftinsider.com/

Have a look at this Zwift newbies thread
https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...t%20beginer#p7202189

This is a good point. w/kg is a vital metric.

---

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Works great for me. Took a decade off due to work and starting a family. Couldn't get a workout routine I could stick with. Ballooned to 260 lbs and "FTP" was probably low 200s and untrained.

I've put in 6000 miles in the last year. Dropped 65 lbs. FTP up to 375. One ride outside the rest on zwift. It's been life changing. I'd pay $100 per month for it, if not more, even if they never made another enhancement.

Instead they will keep improving the service and will do it for cheaper than I'm willing to spend.

I just hope they create improvements where zpower racers can't race in A category races or something similar.

At age 39 I'm fitter than I was at 28 despite a decade off. What an incredible platform.

It's only $15 a month. For what you get its a good deal.

You would really enjoy this podcast episode:
Ultimately it's about how safety systems can lead to failures, but there's a nice bit about UI design.

Cautionary Tales - Ep 3- La La Land

---

I talk a lot - Give it a listen: http://www.fasttalklabs.com/category/fast-talk
I also give Training Advice via http://www.ForeverEndurance.com

The above poster has eschewed traditional employment and is currently undertaking the ill-conceived task of launching his own hardgoods company. Statements are not made on behalf of nor reflective of anything in any manner... unless they're good, then they count.
http://www.AGNCYINNOVATION.com