I installed this a while back (a long while, maybe early on in the beta) and never actually got around to using it, mainly because the graphics look not great on my pc. To be fair, my PC is over a decade old core2duo with 4gb RAM (it does have a slightly newer graphics card which handles zwift just fine), so it's no workhorse. Might have to give this and virtugo an honest demo though

You bring up a good point about the hardware that we run these different applications on - the system can have a big effect on the experience. I just got done building a budget PC that can run all of the indoor training apps at their max visual settings at 1080p. It is a big improvement over my old laptop that could barely sustain 2-4 fps in RGT.

VirtuGO is really neat in that it has a built-in benchmarking took that takes about a minute to determine your system's capabilities and then adjusts the settings accordingly, depending on if you want it to look good or be fast.

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

I run Zwift on Apple TV 4K. Works great. Does TDG run on Apple TV?

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I tried it briefly. It seemed nice and the graphics were indeed good but I didn't use it too much. I already had too much invested Zwift. I decided wait until it's got some traction.

RGT does not - just PC and Mac at the moment. Apple TV 4K is about the easiest and most affordable way to get up and running with Zwift, but other platforms haven't embraced tvOS yet. Zwift and FulGaz are the only ones with a true tvOS version, of which I am aware.

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

this, to me, is the obvious solution. were i rouvy and RGT, and i had real and obvious features that make my product compete favorably with zwift, that platform issue is the real deal breaker. you fret over what laptop to buy, or you spend $179 and you're done.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I think I downloaded it but never really got into it. I like the idea and I’m surprised I wasn’t willing to put more time into it. One of the reasons I enjoy watching The Tour, Giro, etc is for the scenery, seems like RGT would be right up my alley.

Absolutely. The closer we can get to providing a reliable and accurate turn-key solution that anybody can set up, the better. That's probably going to serve the needs of 80% of the indoor cycling proletariat. I think the other 20% might include those looking for the ultimate visual experience/realism, along with online racing driving a need for improved accuracy.

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

It has definitely improved considerably in the year or so I have been messing with it. I like it visually, but Zwift's feature list makes it hard to drop that subscription for RGT only. Nonetheless, it's certainly worth revisiting while it is still free!

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

With a decent enough PC, it does look really nice. The Canary Wharf course provides a neat night look. Maybe RGT could incorporate some of the crazy Grand Tour fans into the model? Are crazy fans considered scenery? :)

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

Timely post, I actually just tried for the first time just a few days ago.
I liked the graphics but it felt very choppy, not sure if the problem was RGT or my trainer.

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http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise

Is the beta free?

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I tried both RGT and VirtuGo betas last year. I don't remember much about either, just that neither one impressed me to a point where I was willing to use it over the winter and save the $15 a month a spend on Zwift. I think the big one is that they just weren't pleasant to look at from a graphics standpoint, in which case you might as well just stare at a wall. And while I don't race or do many group events on zwift, I do like to see other people on there, which was a rare occurrence on RGT. I'll probably give it another shot when I cancel Zwift for the summer.

It is, or at least it was when I signed up.

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http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise

The beta is still free.

While RGT has potential, there are a few things keeping me from using it much at all (even for free).

1 - The terrain, while more realistic than Zwift, doesn't make me forget that i'm riding a trainer. Much of the routes within Zwift have lots of objects and different elements such that you feel progress wherever you are. Even if I were to ride outdoors along a long road where all the terrain was the same it would bore me out of my mind. It's the concentration on the little things that keep me distracted from the fact that I'm working out or on a trainer.

2 - There just aren't any other people riding on it. Even though drafting in Zwift is completely foobar, I like getting in a pack on a group ride in Zwift. It just makes the time go by faster, and all the concentration on remaining in the right spots keeps me from watching the clock.

With that being said, I will not be paying for Zwift during the spring, summer or fall. At $16 a month, i'll pay it during the winter, but it's a very bad value for the handful of times I might use it during the rest of the year. If I really need to do a ride at that point, it probably would be in RGT.

Well it looked interesting so I downloaded it but since I have a computrainer it wont work according to RGT support.

Yeah, I think all these up-starts are going to have that problem. I think Facebook sucks, but the competitors just don't have any people.....so I use FB (for organizing rides, etc).

Also I'm starting to think that realism (Rouvy, RGT) isn't "the thing." It's cool, but not the key attribute that makes an enjoyable experience. I think Zwift probably got it right selecting a lightweight, agile game engine and then focusing on making it a compelling game.

This is a great point, and the reason that London and Richmond are my least favorite courses on Zwift. Authentic, real-life scenery is just not an exciting visual while on the trainer. Watopia has ever-changing scenery that draws you in, and the New York course has all kinds of interesting things going on. Innsbruck is good too, not sure if Zwift took some liberties or if it's just a better place to model. The scenery on RGT to me seems dead and lifeless and that isolated feeling is compounded by the lack of users.

Another thing I'll add is that Zwifts avatar customization has way better selection than RGT. I can't remember if they even had any non-branded bikes available like zwift does. If not, that is something they probably ought to work on. The fact that I can ride my IRL bike on Zwift is great from multiple perspectives, not least that it helps avoid stepping on the toes of my bike shop sponsor.

I was watching my son play NBA 2K19 the other day and was wondering if anyone would ever make an effort to make some sort of geeky cycling game like that for a training app. Some sort of "sim" thing where you get signed by a team and can move up through the ranks based on your improvement or something like that. I think that's the kind of thing that it would probably take to get folks to switch from or add another subscription to Zwift. Not necessarily this particular idea, but something different than what Zwift already offers. I think it's going to take something other than new scenery and slightly better graphics to pull people in.

I think some of these other products look neat, but once I started using an apple TV for zwift it kill off all the alternatives for me.

Getting things launched on a computer, making selections or changes... its just a non starter. Without an apple TV app I'm not even willing to try things that are free.

Some really good thoughts amongst all the posts here. Kind of combining my reaction to a couple of the posts, the gamification that Zwift has that the others don't - being able to level up, earning experience points, the Drop Shop, unlock codes, avatar customization, and more - seem to be the fun aspects that a couple of these products lack. CVRcade (which I hope to review soon) seems to have more of a focus on the game side of things. Personally, if I want a scenic indoor ride, I like the video-based solutions like Rouvy, FulGaz, and Tacx. They give me a better look at real places.

With all that said, I wonder if anybody is considering a port to any of the major gaming consoles?

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

Not necessarily to you Travis...has anyone tried to download the PC app from the Microsoft store and gotten a virus warning from their antivirus. I got a warning that the IDP.generic virus was quarantined and the download stopped. RGT says to whitelist their program after it is downloaded but avast is stopping the download from the Microsoft store.

Rich