I really liked the Tiny races when they tried the zMAP to arrange the cats. Tiny races last kinda in the time that the zMAP calculates so was in my opinion perfect for that.
1 Like
that’s why i don’t think it’s entirely effective, more or less. as far as zrs goes, anti tanking and rating manipulation and all the other stuff that ends up causing community organisers headaches are the parts i consider the most important thing to get right
I think your example was good feedback 
Completly agree but I dont really see that happening with the ZRS we have at the moment.
It is a nice looking new system that imho doesnt solve any of the problems we had wioth CE.
1 - It is a Zwift Score and not a Racing score since it also takes group and freerides into consideration.
2 - Gaps in cats between to top and the low end riders was too big. That has even gotten worse when you look at endurence numbers.
3 - Top cat are empty. They still are.
4 - Same people winning again and again. That wont change. It might shift a bit between pure sprinters and people with huge w/kg powers, but all those complaining about the sandbaggers still wont win a race.
5 - Sandbagging. As I explained above, still very much possible.
6 - We just dont have enough people racing. Dont see much being done about that.
7 - Routes were just terrible. I am actively racing the ZRaces every week since October last year and in August we had the first month where I struggled to get a win. Why, because the routes had hills in them. All those months before it was flat or rolling the most. And that is understandable, since every race organizer wants as many in his race as possible, so picking a hard race isnt helping with that. But that was also a reason why those sandbaggers could win every race. It just wasnt hard enough for them. But I am afraid that if racemanagers have a choice , they will always go for the most riders in a race and not to change it and make it more fair.
For me personally #2 was the biggest flaw in CE and that has gotten worse with ZRS, so that is my biggest objection agaist ZRS.
Hi Ryan, have you considered to use different names for the categories using ZRS in Zwift Power? I mean to show there something like 1-5 instead of A-E.
This would distinct it clearly from CE which is and can still stay as a standalone system using different parameters. It would also make the rider’s results page more intuitive to show which of my events I raced in which system.
IF ZRS is used THEN replace A-E with 1-5
I don’t like the podium race score bonus. It should be a log formula base on the number of entry. The bonus to 5th place on Monday’s prime time ZRacing 200 souls deep is much harder than coming in 3rd in a 6 riders deep field.
I don’t like the idea of having a Zwift HQ, static pens. It should be dynamic monthly. Zwift hosted race accounts for more than 50% of all rider participation. There are riders that ride it exclusively and this promotes tanking and sand bagging. If we think CE, yes organizers can select some off the wall pen size but everyone just end up using Zwift guidelines. I see the same issues with ZRS going this route.
And the 3 10 mins riders is just plain silly. You say someone that breaks riding with Coco pacer bot into 3 riders is considered max effort?
2 Likes
I’m surprised Zwift went with this approach. It seems inevitable that riders will become more specialized and selective about the races they enter. Wouldn’t that result in fewer racers overall and a noticeable decline in participation for hillier events? While races on flatter courses may continue to draw good participation, there will still be a wide range of abilities—from 30-second sprinters to endurance specialists—all with similar ZRS. This could lead to imbalanced races and a less enjoyable experience for many riders.
1 Like
What’s so significant about the top three positions when the margins can be incredibly slim? A rider finishing in 4th place or 5th might be only fractions of a second behind the third-place finisher, yet the current scoring system doesn’t account for this close performance.
Using a bonus system based on a logarithmic function, as you suggested, would make more sense. It would consider the number of participants and offer a more gradual, fair distribution of points across all finishing positions. This continuous approach ensures that every rider’s effort is proportionally rewarded, capturing the true competitiveness of the race, rather than focusing solely on the arbitrary cutoff of podium spots.
Not raced much over the summer so as per usual I get demoted to a CAT B. I’ve enjoyed racing in some Racing Score (450-500) and CE B pens and managed to be competitive without any chance of actually winning.
I was playing around with cleat placement so started a DBR B race for just over 15 minutes then quit to adjust cleats again then joined SZR B crit race on Glasgow circuit.
I stayed competitive throughout but again never no chance of winning or even a podium and 
upgraded to CAT A.
It’s ridiculous as in w/kg has no relevance for light riders unless there’s a race up VenTop or the Alpe.
I don’t or expect special treatment but now for CE races I’ll be up against riders between 4-6 w/kg it’s way too big of a jump and thus the enthusiasm for racing is hard to maintain.
I was hoping racing score or CE would level the playing field taking away the fascination with w/kg but months and months go by with absolutely no improvement in Zwift Racing.
1 Like
4.8w/kg will do it
all those guys ahead of you are super strong. i recognise most of them by name alone and i could lose to any of them even on a good day - and my own zrs score is 690
Your weight is your biggest problem in Zwift. You easily pedal at A cat values with that.
Eat more pizza and burgers and that would solve the Zwift problem. But if its the way to go …
It isn’t his problem to solve. It was an arbitrary line drawn and he happens to be on one side rather than another. Draw a new line and you have the same issue with a different person.
Against this is a systematic issue, not a individual.
Whenever the big Racing Score reset happens, possibly end of September, will zwifthq be giving us a power seed score (please use data going back to around Xmas '23) and then processing all Racing Score events again?
Including allocation of podium bonuses (although I agree that bigger fields should increase number of finishers getting such a bonus)?
One thing to remember, if the race score is done poorly and people are placed in wrong pens, Zwift will send many riders away off the platform.
If you start putting C riders and A riders in the same pen, racing will be gone.
1 Like
i doubt it seriously, but i’m glad people have options for whatever it is they want out of virtual cycling nowadays. virtual racing has only ever gotten better over the years despite the complaints
3 (approx) years ago we didnt even enforced pens and 50% of any given field didnt even have a power meter. before that we didnt even have categories. people still turned up and had fun. and before that, we didnt even have race events to begin with, though the earliest days were before my time
2 Likes
@James_Zwift , is the community Zwift World Series Race 2 that starts on Thurs 26th, meant to be using Racing Score?
Might be my bad memory, but I don’t recall race 1 using it, which would mean GC from September would be messed up.
Maybe fresh Racing Score GC starting from October’s race?
@Ryy Have not done any ZRS races yet due to getting though Chasing tour series past couple months. Stage race focus racer, not a sprinter so finish on the day sucks. So the score was 501.?? in C pen. Before this change. Then score dropped down to this lower number in the C pen. Race at B level FTP. Most common type of zwift races about 25 to 35min (ftp with sprint at end) I really do not do unless something like Pinarello series skin or forced to for ZA. Most races for me are hour to hour plus. So how does ZRS affect thoes as each two as different types of races and pacing, etc. ; with ZRS seems better for the common shorter races?
Stage 4 Pinarello Powered CAT A race after upgrade from CAT B
Hopefully Racing Score graduates soon with improvements totally out classed in Pen A CE numerous riders with racing score over 800 while I’m sitting at 520.
I shouldn’t be racing against these riders this has been going on for years surely it’s time it gets sorted.
those aren’t race score events though. the test events that use race scoring for pens will mention race score in the title