Since the latest update on 11/22/16 there have been some complaints about the draft no longer working for lightweight riders. I did a race today for the first time in about a month or so (I’ve done quite a few, being around since beta) and found that, although the draft still slightly exists for me, it has gotten to the point where I basically cannot take a pull unless I really want to expend way more energy than my fellow riders would. I have never been spat out the back of the main field like this before, but it was really obvious that the physics had changed. I’ve been real life racing for enough years to know what it feels like, and Zwift are going in the opposite direction.
It’s been getting less realistic for a year or so, but I have been able to hang for the most part, until today. Whatever you guys did… it’s no longer much fun for me.
For the moment I will just go down a cat, but that would be sort of like cheating since technically, my FTP still has me in cat A.
meh.
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I’m 64kg and yeah, it takes exceptional attention to keep in the draft. I don’t have a silver bullet here but I know that riding with similarly hard pace groups outdoors it isn’t this hard to keep connected.
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My experience is less that the OP and others above, but I will say that, at 60 kg, drafting on Zwift is WAY more difficult than IRL. Today, during the WBR ride, I was hammering to stay in my group and getting on the front required a huge effort. Weird, unnatural.
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Another race, another day of being shelled early. I’ve never had this happen in Zwift in two years of being a member, and always being an A-level rider. Sure, I’ve been shelled in real life races, and my threshold is only at the lower end of the A range, but this is ridiculous. Spat out the back of a huge peloton of riders (some of which were Bs and Cs) going 35mph while I am pushing 4.5 to 5w/kg? That crap never happened before. I was always able to hang in a pack and pretty easily reach the front on Zwift.
I quit the event in a state of extreme discouragement. The competitive group events used to be my favorite part of this game. Now, after over 12,000 virtual miles, close to half a million points, and two years I am considering leaving. The fact that there is no actual other program to move to is the main reason why I haven’t.
I used to enjoy trying for jerseys. The fliers took that away. Zwift had, for a while, the intention of making it more fair, but that has been relegated to some burner way off the back of the stove. I always thought “It doesn’t matter, I still have the races.”
Not any more.
Unless Zwift acts to undo whatever change they made to the physics.