The amount of draft savings exceeds a certain threshold (this threshold is variable according to the gradient. For instance, it is set at 38% for flat. These thresholds are configurable server side, but there is no point in detailing the values given that they are not visible for you in the HUD. Maybe something to improve in the future…)
AND your speeds exceeds the speed of the bike in front of you
AND your power drops below your last 10 sec. average power (signalling you are slowing/relaxing).
AND your power does NOT exceed X% above your last 10 sec. average power (currently X is set at 110%. It can be changed if needed).
So to put it in simple terms, if the system detects you are “relaxing” your power but your speed is above the rider in front in HIGH draft situations, it slows you down.
Other situations:
If you are travelling at a much higher speed then the rider(s) in front of you, you will never get auto braking. Currently the limit is set at 3km/h (it can be adjusted).
The two last ANDs are contradicting, so the actual logic is uncertain.
That’s the last I’d seen but it was months ago. Wondered if there was anything changed since. I’m confused about the last two though. Trigger 3: Power below last 10s avg. Trigger 4: Power not over 110% of your last 10s avg. Seems redundant.
It might be that it should have been a AND (… OR …).
@DavidP Went silent about the changes at some point and it became hard to give constructive feedback in relation to the changes he made. I guess he has his reasons. It seems like he is satisfied with the current implementation and has better things to do.
Not only it was considered, it was even tested and it’s one of the current system possible configurations It was tested in a few test events a couple of months (or more ) back.
Why was it not used or is currently not being used? Because it was not being effective in doing any relevant change. It was just too “mild”.
I can detail the criteria up to a certain point. More than that we reserve the right not to reveal it at the moment and also because some of the variables taken into consideration are not even visible in the HUD.
Essentially, you can get slowed down if:
your current draft is within certain ranges, mostly in the transition from medium to low draft. but not exclusively.
And, you are within half a bike length of the bike in front.
And, your speed is above the bike in front of you
And your power is reducing compared to your previous 10 sec. power. (the ranges can also vary on certain conditions it has to decrease more than 10% and it needs to go down by up to 70% in the most “aggressive” forms of slowdown).
Also to address the questions and concerns around the 1.34 game release, currently the system is only active in Makuri.
It should be turned on globally within this week (?), but it is not tied to the game release, it’s only in the release notes as a “landmark”.
It will be announced when it’s on globally so don’t worry.
Will it be implemented for all slowdown situations or only the “most aggressive” as currently setup? Is getting spit out the back of a large pack at 60kph on -6% for coasting intended behavior?
I think this is caused by the double draft, actually. Zwift drafting does not allow you to slow down at all without a penalty. It is so shallow, so you will not have any effect of the draft at the back in situations where you IRL would have been able to use the draft. It is nothing like IRL.
Will it be implemented for all slowdown situations or only the “most aggressive” as currently setup?
Only for the ones that are actually activating the brakes on the bike. At least for the time being.
Is getting spit out the back of a large pack at 60kph on -6% for coasting intended behavior?
it’s not. You speak almost like if you were ejected from the group at Mach 5.
It’s difficult for me to explain what might be going on, without seeing a video of the situation.
I can try and guess one possible scenario. When you stop pedalling but the ones around you continue to push for some reason… (?)
What does that mean? There are brakes that aren’t brakes?
It wasn’t a high-speed ejection but moving backwards through the pack fairly quickly. It was with Coco so yes most were still soft-pedaling the descent. Seems that the elimination of supertuck when receiving any draft has made it so you never ever get to fully recover. A comment previously stated that double draft in the pack at high speeds is a greater benefit than super tuck, so it would be reasonable to assume it would keep you in the pack with people soft-pedaling around you. But apparently that’s not the case.
You should try to get a video of it happening so David can understand. Here’s my example of it not happening. 7 seconds of zero watts at 64 km/hr and not losing an inch to the PP right in front of me.
I don’t have recording set up on my machine. Maybe something for Zwift to implement.
I also am not sure what’s unclear about what happened. I was with coco descending the cave on Makuri 40. Middle of huge pack. Coasting at 60kph resulted in me moving backwards through the pack rapidly. Most people were going at coco effort so maybe 100w for such a steep downhill.
i know that section and it’s equally sketchy in pd3. i don’t know why. i definitely would not coast there in pd3 or 4 or probably 5, 10, or pd15 either
other places i would never coast on are the rooftop KOM descent and the innsbruck KOM descent
Out of that cave I had no problems with the descent out of the cave even with my light weight (where I usually get dropped right away). I was slightly ahead of Coco and behind some of the people at the front but had no problems staying there. I think I was probably doing about 100-120w, which is not very much.
I haven’t gone back to Makuri since Constance is on Tick Tock this week, so I’m doing 50km+ rides in that group to build up power.
I was doing 0w compared to the 100w of those around me and that should not result in being dropped in a high speed downhill situation unless the intent of PD4 is to eliminate all recovery opportunity in races.
If everyone around you is doing 100w, why would you think you can do 0w and not lose ground? That makes no sense unless they happen to be on the front where their watts are overcoming their lack of draft. If you are all equally in the draft, you will lose ground – and rapidly.
It was tested in a few test events a couple of months (or more 
) back.