So only difference in your comment between Zwift and TR is “race” and “terrain”. All those others you mentioned can be fake on TR too.
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And height cheating, and trainer mis-calibration, and ANT+ emulators.
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Yes, forgot height doping. But I can trainer and ant+ dope on TR too.
Ah - my bad, I misread that, I thought you were comparing to real life.
I’m not sure I can see a point to cheating in TR. But then again, I can’t really see a point to cheating in Zwift either.
When (if) you cheat on TR, you’re only cheating yourself. When you cheat in a Zwift race, you’re cheating others.
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A lot of it is cheating. Half of my C races are guys that are actually cat Bs but sign up for the wrong race. Zwiftpower filters them out but they ruin the race. You end up just trying to hang on the back the entire time instead of there being any strategy.
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I’m promising myself I won’t get embroiled in this again!!!..
Zwift wasn’t originally set up for racing, and the first races were very unsophisticated. However Zwift has allowed organisers to host races on Zwift, ie using it as a platform. Zwift don’t interfere with the results, and the organisers use Zwiftpower to apply certain filters and DQ’s depending on the rules that they decide. However, organisers can’t determine who does or doesn’t enter a race. Nor can they determine what category they enter.
The official Zwift events that the paying public can enter are carefully described as rides, not races. And the recent Tour of London series that had a race pen was not treated as a race for ranking points as no rules were applied by the organiser, Zwift, on Zwiftpower.
For the official eSports races that are organised by Zwift, there is a detailed ruleset. These races are invite only and all raced as Cat A races. For these races, Zwift does apply the rules, and several high profile racers have been DQ’d (not only Cam Jeffers, but let’s not go there again!!)
I stand by the point that it’s the users that are the problem, not neccesarily Zwift. Yes, Zwift probably could do certain things to make it easier for organisers, but they probably have their eyes elsewhere.
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There’s a pretty heated thread on Zwift Insider on the topic right now. Methinks the cup runneth over. There’s no way Zwift can claim to be an eSport leader without some form of racing infrastructure put in place.
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At the same time as you posted this, Zwift sent me an email with the title “Zwift Race Series – December: Holiday Heat”. Imagine that.
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Absolutely, you want to be in the Olympics but you can’t figure out how to regulate community races? My C races are consistently 50% or more B racers. There is no reason Zwift should be this far in and not have done anything about this yet.
I almost didn’t ride this morning because I saw my race was all Bs. Glad I did because none of those guys used a mountain bike on the jungle circuit. I was passing them at 2.5 while they were doing 3.5. Was some beautiful pay back for them racing out of category.
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The users may be the problem, but it’s Zwift’s responsibility to solve them, which they seem poorly equipped to do, even after years of trying.
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Poorly motivated might be a better description. It doesn’t appear they’ve tried at all.
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Direct from the event description…
"We call these events races, but in reality it’s a mass participation run focused on uniting the Zwift community. "
Sorry Andy
ABOUT
Crit City Races are brought to you by the folks at Zwift HQ. It’s a race so there is no ride leader. Go for the win, a personal best, or just try to get the best workout possible. Results are shown as you cross the finish line. Good luck Zwifters!
CATEGORIES
A: 4.0-5.0 w/kg
B: 3.2-3.9 w/kg
C: 2.5 /kg-3.1 w/kg
D: 1.0- 2.49 w/kg
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Devil’s Advocate - but if Zwift isn’t hosting the race, simply supplying the venue, then is it Zwift’s responsibilty? You wouldn’t expect the Paris Council to enforce the rules during the Tour de France?!
You’re right, I figured out this was actually a run. You get a “Holiday Heat race shirt” but it’s “not actually a race”. Must be a room-full of lawyers in that building somewhere.
What is Zwiftpower? Is this an external Zwift tool? Why isn’t it integrated into Zwift itself if it’s how DQs and filters are handled?
Sorry, I’m not a big Zwift user but this is something that I see come up often and I’ve always wondered about.
Yeah, I’ve read that argument before. Except in this case Paris (Zwift) advertises the race, including as part of its ads to incite you to subscribe, publishes the races in its Companion app, provides a registration service and provides the timing system.
It’s a hack to fill in the lack of infrastructure in Zwift for racing. A good hack, by the way.
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OK, so it’s not run by Zwift themselves? Someone else is building and operating it?