New routes and improved graphics?

General Discussion
1

To the devlopers of Zwift:

  1. I’ve noticed there is still a lot of “undeveloped land” in the assorted worlds, especially Watopia, and wonder about a intention timeline in creating new routes. I’ve only been on Zwift for a year and both climb portals and the lower Watopia route are new. Do you have a regular timeline for adding the routes/worlds. Just curious. I haven’t ridden all the current routes yet, so I’m not complaining.

  2. I have tried several other apps that have either filmed realworld routes with cyclist graphics embedded (e.g. Rouvy) or more detailed computer generated worlds (e.g. IndieVelo or MyWhoosh). I know there are some real problems in increasing the graphic detail that is compatible for all platforms from Android to a full-on gaming Windows setup (like mine) but the was-cutting-edge Zwift of 2015 is now looking a bit long in the tooth in comparison to other, newer apps. Right now Zwift has the inertia of subscriber numbers and participation going for it, but I imagine this will slide as more serious users shift to more heavily financed app developers like MyWhoosh and Indie Velo that offers much better graphics and more stringent racing criteria. How are you addressing this? (If it’s not a secret.)

BTW, I imagine there is a large core group of Zwifties that don’t care as much about the graphics or racing as they do the social aspects and the are unlikely to switch to another app simply for the same reason that people don’t go to a newer, fancier pub or church (depending upon your inclination). They continue to go to the institution they have been going to because it’s familiar and all their friends are there. That is a huge advantage for Zwift. Keep it doing what you have been doing but don’t rest on your laurels.

P.S. I will review the suggested topics that popped up in a “Your topic is similar to…” window. This whole posting may be redundant.

2

We usually see one or two expansions with new roads per year. In 2023 we got an entire new map, Scotland, and the expansion of the Watopia southern coast.

Zwift has said in years past that they would like to continue building onto Makuri Islands as well so it would be similar in size to Watopia. I’m hoping we see another expansion of Makuri this year. The last expansion of Makuri, Urukazi, was launched in November 2022.

Zwift keeps the topic of new roads very close to their chest, and we never know when new roads will appear until usually a few weeks prior to launch.

On the topic of graphics, I actually prefer the look of Zwift over Indivelo and MyWoosh.

3

OK, my bad.
I went back and really looked at the graphics on My Whoosh and IndieVelo and then looked at Zwift in comparison. Then I looked at my graphics settings for Zwift. For some reason I had them set the same as my android tablet except I was using a high-end AlienWare Windows laptop with VERY good graphics card. This laptop is only about 2 months old and I know at some time in the past few weeks I was able to see Zwift in the Ultra settings on it and was impressed, but for some reason that I can’t remember nor even imagine why, I reset the graphics settings to the same setting of my Android tablet. HUGE difference. With the proper settings, I now agree with you that Zwift’s graphics are at least the equal of the two aforementioned apps, if not better in some aspects, so please disregard my previous comments on this subject. Keep up the great work. I await with anticipation, the next improvements and expansions of Zwift. In the meantime I’ll keep riding.

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