Missed opportunity, Zwift on RGT, IV

[David_Speck1 (David)]

Had Zwift bothered to acquire RGT, they might have actually offered something better than the stale, repetitive experience they force on riders now. Instead, they sat on their hands while Wahoo swooped in and grabbed the technology Zwift desperately needed. Now RGT is dead, and Wahoo owns the pieces Zwift foolishly let slip through their fingers. Zwift’s loss is Wahoo’s gain — and Zwift has no one to blame but themselves.

On top of that, Zwift completely blew it by missing out on IndieVelo, a grassroots community platform that actually understands what riders want. IndieVelo’s pacebot and race structures are leagues ahead of Zwift’s clunky, glitch-filled systems. Their pacebot keeps groups together seamlessly, creating fair races instead of the frustrating mess Zwift users endure. Instead of wasting millions trying to reinvent the wheel, Zwift could have simply adopted IndieVelo’s proven tech for a fraction of the cost and saved themselves a world of trouble.

This is classic complacency — the kind that killed Blockbuster when they arrogantly passed on Netflix, thinking their old model would last forever. Zwift’s smug confidence in their outdated formula is doing the exact same damage. They’re stuck in the past, ignoring the shifting demands of their riders, and it’s starting to show.

Sure, Zwift still leads the market now, but the cracks are spreading fast. Racing is stale, innovation is nowhere to be found, and community events are dying off under Zwift HQ’s iron grip. The tools to keep riders engaged — custom courses, dynamic physics, flexible event formats, and platforms like IndieVelo — were all within reach. Zwift had the chance to seize them, but they chickened out.

Now, with RGT dead in Wahoo’s hands and IndieVelo left to operate on its own, Zwift is stuck with the same tired platform it started with. If they don’t evolve, they won’t just lose market share — they’ll lose their community. Their failure to act isn’t just a missed business opportunity. It’s a catastrophic cultural failure. Instead of empowering their users and embracing innovation, Zwift doubled down on control and stagnation.

[Steve_Hammatt (Steve)]

@David_Speck1

IndieVelo left to operate on its own

Erm, TrainingPeaks bought Indievelo.

[Mike_Rowe1 (Mike)]

@David_Speck1 is on a roll today

[Craig_D_Mart (Craig)]

I don’t know who David Speck is, but this is a load of nonsense.

I tried RGT. It felt far more disconnected from your avatar, the mechanics were very weird as far as in-draft and out of draft, and pacer bots in races are extremely annoying. It didn’t really have anything worth Zwift paying them.

Paying money to aquire any and all competitors, regardless of their merit, has sunk many a top dog in tech. I don’t think claiming Zwift should have made acquisitions is giving you credibility.

There are piles of races on Zwift, all populated by people. Many of them are good races. Some are not. I don’t agree with everything that Zwift have done, but they are constantly trying new things, and I’m pretty sure they’re working on the “technical debt” as I believe they’ve called it before where there were bad design choices made very early in development that have left parts of the Zwift code dependent on each other in ways they now wish weren’t. There are lots of other competing platforms. I’ve tried many of them, and keep coming back to Zwift. It’s not perfect, but it’s still the best for me. Other platforms have different strengths that might match better to you.

[Gordon_Rhino-Racing (Gordon)]

DId you ever user RGT? it was very stale and boring ride experience..

Indievelo i did like it some aspects but it is always missing a lot compared to what zwift offers so was not ever at a level to seriously compete with zwift. Could it be yeah quite possibly but it has a way to go before it gets there.

ps if these other platforms are so good why are you on zwift forums and not riding there?

[Paul_Southworth (Paul)]

RGT had some features that were a little bit cool, and there was no need to pay to get them. For example showing distance to the start of a segment. Why buy the code base, which would likely be useless, when you can just implement the feature without even licensing it. Magic Roads were interesting, but the problem there isn’t the need to buy the code. It’s that Zwift does not want that feature in their game because they want people to ride together, which is one of the main things Zwift does well.

[GPLama (Shane)]

Let’s not forget that Zwift single handedly dropped the a*s out of smart trainer prices and has made indoor cycling more accessible for everyone. EVERYONE. ON ANY PLATFORM. And before the ‘closed system’ ragers pounce, I’m not talking about virtual shifting / etc that’s Zwift only. Smart trainers in general are cheaper than they’ve ever been and (most) provide a much better experience than ever before. All because Zwift disrupted the market on the hardware front, and the industry had to respond.

Now in regard to their ‘closed system’ of Virtual Shifting (which you’d be foolish not to consider innovation) - The work Zwift has done on the hardware front to make indoor cycling cheaper and more accessible remains UNMATCHED by any other platform. Remember the Wahoo steering device release for RGT? What’s IV/MW doing on this front? What’s Rouvy done? Oh wait, they didn’t do anything. They hijacked Zwift hardware support for their own platform.. that they can’t support. That was irresponsible, to put it politely.

Anyhow. Stepping back a little further than OP to take in the whole picture, I don’t think things are so bad. Other platforms still exist. People are free to pick and choose.

My 4.5c (it was 2c but … tariffs)

[Luciano_Pollastri_ZE (Luciano)]

First: 100% agree that Zwift has made everything else possible, democratizing virtual cycling and is the one with more (another universe ahead) on the socal interaction. I recommend to most of my friends starting with virtual cycling to join Zwift.

Now, when it comes to fair racing and innovation, very little has happened in Zwift front in the last years. An example that you are referring to: contrary to what many believe or imply, virtual shifting first was launched by indieVelo now TPV, not by Zwift.

For the rest, the agility and feature drop of iV now TPV is miles ahead of Zwift. The reactivity and interaction with the users, the consistency between the users feedback and he product prioritization … that’s something Zwift should learn about… big time.

For those not aware of what indieVelo / TPV has been launching over the last 18 months, many unique features. I let you decide who is the most innovative:

Unique Features For Events:
• Tactically interesting racing, where both skill and judgement (as well as power) are needed to win.
• Real-world physics, with wind, positioning, drafting, collisions, cornering, braking, racing lines and realistic speeds.
• Advanced bicycle physics with bikes that respond to your actions indoors the same way they do outdoors.
• Credible racing with fully integrated performance verification.
• Sandbagging eliminated with automatic multi-player match-making based on win-loss rankings.
• Separate rankings for sprint, endurance, time trial and climbing ensures high quality match-making every race.
• Wide variety of events; scratch, timetrial, points, elimination, keirin, team racing, fixed duration and fixed distance.
• Dedicated Team Time Trial mode with drafting only between team members, timing on N-th rider and intermediate splits.
• Live, real-time fully automated updates in-game of event progress, such as current points totals in a points race.
• Guaranteed competitive and full fields for every race, with AI bots matched to your ability.
• Dynamic in-game race objects, such as an automatically placed Flamme Rouge at 1km to go.
• Predicted race finish position given to each rider in pen, so everyone competing has a target to aim for.
• Fully integrated teams, with built-in team management, selection, custom team kit and DS mode for viewing events live.
• Ability to have your own team kit added within a couple of days of submitting designs.
• Put on your own custom events, whenever you want, configured just as you like them.
• Link events together to be part of a league or series with the option for consistent rider pen allocations throughout.
• Private events with entry limited by access codes.
• Ability to use IRL racing licence details, and events that can be limited to those with verified identities.
• Options to limit entries to events based on having a smart trainer, HRM and/or dual-recording.
• Options to change the number of points / eliminations at each location, or even to skip locations altogether.
• Options for slower paced starts, with a fully configurable paced Neutral Zone in events.
• Options for novel route layouts, including split-road/roundabout features for tactical route choices mid-race.
• Options to put a finish arch wherever organisers want, for whatever length event they want.
• Chat with filters, personalised colours and team-only / group-only / local-only and global chat options.
• Professional broadcast & streaming API provides game data straight to OBS, vMix, Singular.live etc.
• Ability for organisers to customise in-game objects, such as banners, barriers and flags with their own graphics & logos.
• Ability for organisers to receive results of all their events by email immediately after the last rider crosses the line.
• Results available to organisers in CSV format, including all intermediate splits, for easy league management.
• Unparalleled sub-millimeter consistency, accuracy and precision of rider positions and results.
• Secure-by-design anti-cheat mechanisms with a server-authoritative architecture.
• Built-in dual-recording, producing a single FIT file with both data sources.
• Commissaire mode to enable real-time human monitoring of events, and ability to exclude any rider during a race.
• Fully automated real-time Performance Verification, with ability to select automated disqualifications during a race.
• Comprehensive server audit logging for retrospective analysis of all actions and activities.

Unique Features for Workouts and Training:
• Wide variety of workouts with ability to import 3rd party ZWO, JSON, ERG and MRC files.
• Calendar synchronisation of daily workouts with TrainingPeaks / intervals.icu / Humango.ai.
• Support for external control of your trainer for compatibility with 3rd party apps like TrainerRoad & BeatBiker.
• Support for powermatching the ERG targets for workouts based on your independent powermeter.
• Support for heartrate based workouts, with ERG mode adjusting power to keep HR in range.
• Support for advanced sensors, such as SmO2 levels and Core/Skin temperature / Heat Stress Index.
• Group workouts with fully automated automatic synchronisation of even custom workout files.
• Late-join and automatic synchronisation for group workouts so riders who miss the start can still ride togther.
• Group rides with ability for riders who fall behind to just teleport back to the group.
• Suggested ways to improve through full CP tracking and automated analysis of your rides.
• Fully configurable personalised training zones for power, heart rate and cadence.
• Fully integrated lap-timer for easy real-time comparison of your performance.
• Zen mode for training by yourself without the distraction of other riders.
• Focus mode for full screen display of just your workout and key data only.
• Incognito mode for training in private.
• Ability to seamlessly select a new route while riding, swapping between multiple routes in a single ride.
• Regular monthly community objectives and leaderboards to provide constant challenges.

Everything else you expect, and much more:
• Multi-platform deployment (PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, Android and ChromeOS).
• Multi-language support (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Danish, Polish, Chinese & many others).
• Extensive hardware compatibility (Bluetooth FTMS / Wahoo / Tacx / ANT+ / Direct Connect WiFi).
• Extensive third party application compatibility (Strava, TrainingPeaks, intervals.icu etc).
• Extensive support for third party game controllers for menu navigation (Avotro / XBox / PlayStation etc).
• Sideways / horizontal server scaling (supporting 100,000+ concurrently connected riders).
• Offline mode (continue riding and finish your workout etc, even if you are disconnected from the servers).
• Roads (thousands of kilometers of routes, including a connected velodrome for Paris-Roubaix style events).
• Pacebots (variety of different speeds and routes for training with).
• Workouts (both built-in and full compatibility with workout creators).
• Free-Riding (following routes, or ability to choose your own direction at any junction).
• Late-Join (allowing people to join group rides at any time before they finish).
• Rubberbanding (configurable strength to keep riders together, so the slowest riders don’t get left behind).
• Teleport (ability to immediately join friends, team mates and pacebots who are already riding).
• Take-a-break option (ability to pause any non-competitive ride indefinitely but still stay with your group).
• Tactical Positioning (ability to decided where to position yourself in a group).
• Virtual Gearing (that works on any make or model of trainer without any extra hardware equipment needed).
• Moderation (ability for athletes to select to immediately Mute / Block others to ensure a safe space for all).
• Social (ability to view others, and find / follow friends).
• Achievements (short / medium / long term targets to stimulate engagement and completion of efforts).
• Cameras (fully customisable angles, glancing, drone cameras and support for multiple in-game views for broadcast).
• Screenshots (ability to save memories for sharing on social media and promotion).
• Avatar Configuration (bike, hair, skin tones etc, with multiple fully customisable RGB colours on most items).
• Inclusivity (vision impairment & colour blind friendly colour schemes / fonts, and in-game trikes and hand-cycles).
• Custom UIs (ability to customise your own UI through external scripting).
• Custom APIs (for community built apps, such as controlling game actions and camera angles via a phone / tablet).
• Hundreds of small quality-of-life improvements, such as showing battery levels for paired devices.
• Highly configurable graphics settings (runs on 10 year old laptops through to 4k+ ultra-wide screens).
• Multi-monitor support (forward, left, right and/or rear outputs for seamless 360 degree views of the world).
• Weekly updates (with automated patching that typically takes less than 1 minute to apply).
• etc. etc.