Rant on:
Zwift just wants to go public and be Peloton. Every decision has been about how to get more subscribers and to latch onto some big tech buzz word for the week on the hopes they get more investors and funding.
Remember when Z was gonna be a social media platform? Lol.
Rant off.
Hopefully this means we can have a “change to another route” button or, maybe, an actual checklist of badges that I can browse while in game and not before I pick a route in about 10 years.
Yeah, which one 
The same one IQ2 will ship products.
This happened to me one million times.
Decent chat about the “new” feature.
AND… as if to prove the point (Zwift is clueless by recognizing the frustration, but having now idea how to actually fix it), check out the Sticky Draft section starting at 11:15.
Beyond ironic to hear them struggle with the simple fact that they are trying to predict intentions and apply function (stick or not) based on a range of factors. He clearly admits that they are guessing and don’t “get it right” all the time.
He then adds, related to a Team Time Trial example, “.…having to really manage their speed by soft-pedaling, because again… we don’t have brakes”. BINGO!!!
Part 1: This is a skill, just like riding outside and one that can be learned, managed and used to great effect, which is a “skill” that should be rewarded or penalized depending on the ability gained by the rider.
Part 2: Brakes… we need brakes. I know there is a tech issue here, but I have several ideas on how they can handle that, and can only hope they are actively working on it despite what sounds like “we don’t know how to handling brakes…”. If we actually had brakes, and eliminated the “draft lock”, this would all be more directly in the hands of each and every rider. This is FAR superior to relying on some algorithm guessing and getting it wrong in the times we really pay a high price. Give ME the control and I will be responsible for my positioning.
Part 3: He says we just have to “.…learn the nuance and fineness of getting in a draft lock situation. At the same time, when it pops you into someone’s back wheel and you really wanted to pass 'em, it is SUPER frustrating”. Yeah, no shit! 
Part 4: He touches on steering, which I think is very relevant and part of the long term picture. Ideally, I think we should have parallel controls inside and outside. Direction, power, braking and all that as part of the package. I get that some people think any and all of this is a “gimmick”, but I want control in the virtual world. It’s fine if Z offers levels of control so people don’t have to invest in those devices. Make whatever accommodations are needed, but allow for more advanced control that gets the more interactive and rewarding as a result.
Again, the answer is NOT for Zwift to get smarter and guess better… it’s to PUT THE CONTROL IN OUR HANDS!
One would think that if it’s possible to have 3rd person battle royale games on mobile phones that have tens of millions of players that make hundreds of millions or billions of dollars per year with infinitely more complex input and inventory mechanisms, someone would be able to figure out how to put a brake and a steering function.
For phones and tablets, just use your finger?
For PC, maybe just allow it on the keyboard?
We aren’t putting a person on Mars. These are solved problems that have been around for literally years if not decades.
Sorry, forgot that doing to straight forward free thing would prevent them from forcing hardware manufacturers into signing exclusive licenses for the ability to have a left right button.
Yup, I added this to my post on the ZwiftCast page:
I am currently hacking brakes via quick use via a mini-keyboard on my bars and hitting the ‘A’ key to get into Devices for a second or two (which effectively drops power input to 0w which is about as good as scrubbing brakes in a pack), and then quickly hit ‘ESC’ to get back in. I use this A LOT when riding with pace partners to keep from going off the front.
I have more ideas how to make a more refined setup that actually connects to my brake lever, so I can quickly hit it anytime. This is the direction I think they need to head ultimately. Integrated controls that interface with a fuller range of “bike” functions.
Zwift users getting a “feature” only to realize it’s the most basic function of literally every other app in existence…
THIS is why I switched to RGT.
These guys never heard of track… racing or bike (trick question).
Stick draft is part of the design because of the use of local resources to calculate your positioning independently of other users with periodic synchronization as opposed to uniformly (server based) and displaying the result. Do they really think we are that stupid (OK, another trick question).
It’ll be nice to introduce braking by just interrupting the trainer’s signal but I think the game is pretty aggressive with plugging holes with the Rx fails.
I tried it last year, around June or so when it was first released. It’s pretty cool, but lacks the multiplayer aspect that I personally enjoy. I’ve tried GTA, Rouvy, RoadGrandTours and Veloton, but I keep going back to Zwift.
I can tell you that Sterzo is NOT the answer…I was actually pretty disappointed in it.
First, it is actually challenging to get it set up so that the wheel is straight. You’d think it would be simple, but it isn’t. Second, if all your cable lengths / tensions aren’t the same, you’ll have a bias. In my case, my bike constantly moves to the right. I can go left, but don’t stay there. It is subtle, but definitive. Finally, I have toe overlap issues…you have to steer the front wheel to big angles for some turns and I hit my toes regularly. Not fun at a high cadence.
Also, sprinting on it is very “loose”…your front wheel moves a fair amount and if you are using a rocker panel, it is very inefficient.
Gave up on mine after a week.
Now they need to not have a pairing screen unless there is an issue. That will take a few more years though and am transitioning to Fulgaz as my secondary soon anyway.
Yeah, I’m not claiming we have the right hardware or software solution yet. As mentioned before, I come from decades of auto sim racing. The gulf of experience between these bike devices and what I used 10 years ago in sim gear is laughable.
There is so much potential for where this can go and it seems that Z is unable to look at other industries to learn from them. Maybe they are in the process of doing that now, but up to this point, the concepts of integration are poor at best.
Maybe in 3-5 years we will see devices that can be added easily that allow for lot of control for positioning, braking, viewing angles and the like to really improve the immersion, but all I know is that we are barely touching the surface for integration based on other things I’ve done in the past.
I thought the steering buttons on the Wahoo bike (I think it was Wahoo) was dumb when I first heard about…after riding the Sterzo, it makes a LOT more sense.
Heck, you could just sell two “blips” that attach to your handlebars and use those like the Wahoo buttons.
Yup, I think it is a reasonable solution. I have considered hacking a game pad and locating the buttons, D-pad and joysticks to locations within reach of the hoods and drops.
With some mapping software via PC (maybe Mac too?), you can connect to the device and “hit keys” to control anything that is a keyboard shortcut or combo. Just one of a few options to get more control at the bars with less need to play with keyboards or even the Companion app.
I’m really curious what zwift have managed to spend $680m on. That’s a whole lot of virtual socks.
And that’s just the equity rounds - add on subs, sponsorship etc for the full cash burn. What are they spending it all on?
In all honesty, not being a Zwift user, when I first saw this thread I thought it was something to do with people getting ‘lost’ in Watopia, and felt really sad.
No idea. I haven’t followed lately, but Eric was never shy about claiming there weren’t afraid of running in the red (not making a profit) in the near term. He might say different now, but I haven’t bothered to follow his more recent interviews.
Their whole perspective is one that I can’t really fathom and is so different from how my little economical mind works. Likely the reason he’s a successful business man and I sit here complaining about what he’s doing from my little design job 
Plenty of business people are successful only until they run out of other people’s money!
So you’re saying that they have been doing enough to keep you as a customer. 
I’m being facetious, but until they actually see subscribers bail and stop paying them money, they don’t have to care what customers think, as whatever complaints they have it is not enough to get them to actually quit.
I think there may be parallels here to Strava - spend years and 100s of millions of dollars on tangents that your users/customers don’t care about, then when you run out of money actually start caring about your customers.
I suspect that they are now focused on expanding quickly and maintaining their dominance so that the smaller players go under, which them leaves them with large market share and few competitors. I really question on how they are going to pay back all their VC money + interest - I think the only way is that if e-bike racing somehow is a huge success.
