I have noticed a little glitch. Here’s the scenario:
I’m pacing along with two other riders at, let’s say 20 mph. We’re not in a pace line but we’re staggered and within drafting distance and I’m the last in line. We come up on another rider who is doing 18 mph. As the avatars do, they sort of jockey around this slower rider one way or another. My avatar for some reason tries to go around the slower rider on the right. When my avatar gets maybe halfway past the slower rider, it starts to move left as if it wants to go around the left side of the slower rider but it can’t, at that point it will hang up as if it is stuck on the other riders bike. Now my two riding partners start pulling away, so the only way to get unstuck is to stop pedaling completely and then speed up. If I attempt to speed up, the avatar seems to stutter and not respond for a moment or two until it breaks free. By this time my riding companions have gained a significant distance and I have to work to get back to them.
I am using a Wahoo Kickr connected via ANT+ to a 6 core i7 at 4.0 mhz Nvidia GTX-1060 with 6 gb mem and 500 gb SSD drive.
a.k.a…“The Zwift Scrub”. I just made that up, but yes, if you are in a draft and you see a slower rider ahead, you must be sure to add power for the over-take or it will go just as you described.
a.k.a. the Zwift Pick. a.k.a. the Zwift Screen. This is a flaw.
A group of drafting riders overtake a slower rider. Some riders get shunted to the left of the slower rider, others to the right. Some riders pass the slower rider and proceed. Other riders get stuck behind the slower rider, drafting the slower rider.
It appears to be arbitrary and undesirable. The individual Zwifter appears to have no control whether they get shunted to the left or right when overtaking another rider, or whether they stay with the riders they’re drafting with (the obviously desirable choice) or get re-glued to the draft of the slower rider.
Cary points out that a burst of power can the trapped Zwifter past the slower rider, but (1) the rest of the group may have already gapped them and (2) the burst of power may be a burst they don’t have left because they’re already at the limit.
If there were some control over this happening, this would be a tactical maneuver. But it appears to be just bad luck from arbitrary coding decisions. Or can someone explain how not to be the Zwifter picked off by the slower rider (press up up left right?) and thus how to reliably use this as an advantage in racing?
Reading further into this. If you’re a light rider who’s powerful for their weight - you’re really screwed!
The main cause here is that Zwift servers are ‘I think’ in LA. If you’re not zwifting near LA, then your ping will be huge. This is the msin cause of it all. The remedy is servers based on your mainland.
Try to Speedtest a server on the west coast of America and if you’re getting a ping of over 50ms, Zwift will unfortunately not work as realistically desired.
It’s ok for training or riding solo but say goodbye to any form of accurate racing or group riding. I hope it all gets sorted within the next 12 months of lower fees. If not, I’ll be suspending the spring, summer and autumn months and just use for training mode in winter 