Sauce is not fair
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And?
Wahoo direct connect and other trainers that support faster updates are not fair. Direct drive trainers compared to most friction drive trainers are not fair. The world is not fair, doubly so when competing in sports. Have the spare cash to spend $X per month on Zwift, a computer and good internet connection is not fair.
If you race IRL, please tell me youâve never spent a second thinking about what tyres to use, getting stiffer shoes, a more aero helmet, 12-speed vs 11 cassette, whether to use gels, shave your legs, etc. Youâd be very much an outlier if you hadnât.
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All of those things are easy to ignore in a Zwift race. Steering isnât. Itâs right in your face whenever itâs in use, and chasing a steering rider is nothing like chasing someone on a more expensive bike or trainer (IRL or otherwise).
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Thatâs not what zwift is though. It might be that to you, but itâs not what zwift says it is. It (supposedly) puts the gaming side at the forefront.
If you want a training and fitness platform only, you could try something like TrainerRoad. Youâll probably get better results.
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âWhats next paying for extra whats before races?â - Nope, routes and route badges only available to those that paid for steering. Oops, thatâs not next. Thatâs already the case.
Sure glad I have the option for âanyâ avatar over the ability to steer with a keyboardâŚ
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Zwift should definitely make the Play available everywhere. That saidâŚis the Sterzo also âgeo-limitedâ like the Play? I thought that could be purchased in many places around the globe, maybe Iâm wrong.
10Hz Race Mode is also something that people can buy that dramatically affects racing. My trainer doesnât have that, even though itâs a smart trainer. And itâs a lot more money for me to pay out for a 10Hz trainer that I donât have than for a Sterzo.
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In my race last night the steering was actually taking the riders of the road into the undergrowth! Maybe to make it fare this should slow them down lol!
Every time Iâve enabled steering on my kickrbike this has been the case.
Between the group ride bugs it brings (being marked as a leader breaks steering is the bug), Iâve just stopped enabling it.
Every race I had steering enabled, I would get pushed out of the blob guaranteed, the only way I was able to get stable draft is if I were to sit at the total end of a group (which isnât always safe to do).
Some folks may think steering makes a huge difference, but truthfully it doesnât.
It saves 0 +/- 3% on route distance in best case scenarios when solo, but in groups and races, all itâs ever managed to do to me is force me out of the draft.
Worst case is when I forget to remind a teammate to disable it on the TTTâs, and they arenât paying attention, and MY rider doesnât fall into draft of the person in front of me.
Steering is seriously not that big of a deal yall.
I fully understand the complaints about global shipping however, thatâs for sure the least âfairâ thing about it.
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My take on this is from the perspective of someone who likes to try to get in breaks, but who finds almost no one willing to work when I get into one. If someone without steering shows that they want to work with me in a break, Iâll steer in front of them when I take my pull. Because thatâs how a break is going to work. But if they wonât work? Iâll happily steer out from in front of them. As long as theyâre trying to make me TT this thing, Iâll let them do the same.
So my use-case in a break is to shake off wheel-suckers, and Iâm okay with that. Either they donât want to work, and why should I tow them along, or they canât work, and Iâm not running a charity.
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Where steering is most impactful to a race is not in the corners, but in a couple of critical moments that can make or break a race, for instance in any breakaways where you essentially have a continuous burrito power-up for as long as you want meaning if you keep steering out of the way someone without steering will not be able to draft you at all for the entirety of your break. That person might not know youâre going to start doing that until theyâve already put in a bunch of effort to get to the tail end of your break.
Similarly, at the end of the race in a sprint if there are only a couple of people left you can lead out and not worry about someone sticking in your draft if they donât have steering.
Iâve had steering for years and really the only advantage you get is being able to steer to the edge of the road so others cannot get draft) and in places like titans grove where you can gain a lot of distance by cutting corners with a shorter line.
The draft benefits could be stopped if draft applied more widely. That would stop the complaints but would also remove any need to have steering devices.
Some people have also forgotten (or to be fair, may have never known) that Zwift did try to deliver steering for all back in 2019. It involved securing your companion device to your handlebars and then using the phoneâs accelerometers to detect when you actually steered left or right*. The fact that it disappeared probably says how well that worked.
(* The first Sterzo steerers didnât have any electronics, they just aided turning the handlebars on a static bike whilst the above method was used if you wanted a steering signal to Zwift.)
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Totally, never heard of it.
Itâs also not much of a difference to be honest.
Sometimes the steering is actually unhelpful.
Sometimes you try merging into a group, canât get in , you keep trying, next thing you know youâre flung straight into the other side of the road.
On the out side of a corner or something.
Really steering devices are cheap and you probably spend more on chains and other things.
Really itâs a pretty limp argument
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The price debate here is definitely overblown in my opinion.
My steerzo smart was about 100 bucks.
Thats essentially some new grip tape and brake pads. And represents a small fraction of even my modest bike setup.
Even though steering does seem to get me annoyingly pushed out of packs at the wrong time⌠And it can be a bit loose feeling in a heavy sprint (I have nearly crashed inside going all out as I was torquing the handles too much 
) I still prefer the feeling of steering, especially in longer group rides, it just adds a little more of a realism feel and fun.
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A second-hand Sterzo really doesnât cost very much.
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I paid ÂŁ59 for mine (new). If itâs an advantage, itâs a small one and the cost isnât prohibitive, much less so than the cost of upgrading to a trainer with 10Hz mode for instance. The Sterzo is also available in more countries than the Zwift Play controllers, reducing another âbarrierâ.
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I paid âŹ54, now itâs @ Amazon.de:
Noticed in the official post about Zwift Games put up in here yesterday, that steering isnât enabled.
nor braking. Iâm guessing they had to effectively make the Play controllers add-on a non-issue since they havenât figured out how to sell them worldwide.
I paid $50can from Amazon warehouse for an open box
1 Like