Today, I hopped on Zwift to race in my regular 5v5 race. When the race got started, I had a really hard time staying with the pack. I am usually a pretty strong rider, so I was surprised by this. I eventually got dropped in the first 3 minutes. About 15 km of soft pedaling later it occurred to me to go into the Garage and see what bike was selected. I was on a Cadex Tri, a TTT only bike that gets no draft in races. Oops. My race was ruined.
This has happened several times before. All the bikes look graphically the same to me from the default view. In real life this would never be a problem, so it is stupid to make it a pain point on Zwift.
Zwift badly needs a feature that pops up a text notification of what bike you are on prior to an event. Even a 10 second pop up would help enormously.
What screen are you running the app on? Phone or small tablet? And what view do you use when you’re riding? I ask because (not judging you here) it has always been pretty obvious to me which bike my avatar is on, even from just the default rear view. Particularly the difference between road bike, TT bike, and MTB. I also don’t own a lot of bikes in the game, so the ones I do own look distinct enough from each other even within a category that I can tell.
If you’re on a small screen though, I could see how it could be an issue.
I will say though that I wouldn’t want a popup as an ideal fix to this problem. The fewer popups the better.
(Also note that, while it’s still a thing you’d have to do rather than automatic, just switching your avatar view would allow you to see your bike better. No need to go in to the garage.)
this already exists when you are on a TT bike and enter an event that isn’t a TT, a warning shows up and asks if you want to switch to the Zwift carbon bike (I think its the carbon bike at least)
EDIT:
Oh maybe this is just for pace partner rides?
Auto TT Swap
We’ve all been there… you drop into a RoboPacer ride, only to realize you’re on the TT frame you used in yesterday’s race or workout. This simple new feature alerts you if you’re on a TT frame, and lets you click a button to be placed on Zwift’s default Carbon frame instead.
The Carbon frame isn’t the fastest road frame in Zwift, of course. But it’s much faster than a TT frame in a pack, since it receives the draft benefit. This is a simple solution to a minor but annoying “quality of life” issue. (Word is Zwift co-founder, TT lover, and game creator Jon Mayfield whipped this one up himself!)
Nigel - I like the idea of showing what bike you are on currently on the pairing screen. Or just a simple text layover in an unobtrusive way for 10-15 seconds when you join the world.
Tom - I am on a 21" laptop screen. I have never been able to tell a difference between any of the bikes from the graphics other than the Tron which glows pink for me… and even then I just don’t pay attention. This shouldn’t be a gotcha.
Mike - I think that is only on Robo pacer riders and not on other events like the one I did yesterday.
It would be great if you see your current avatar and bike on the home page or as you suggest prompt you to change when joining an event with a non standard bike
I’m not saying it should be a gotcha. Just thinking that a small screen might have been the problem, because I haven’t had any trouble myself telling what bike I’m on. Wheels, yes. Bike, no.