As the community is getting crowded… can we opt out of this feature? I’m not a racer and don’t like constant reminders I’m slower.
Thread is only a year old, give them a chance!
On a serious note, during the start of the Fondo I did at the weekend it was on and off so rapidly it made me wonder if it could trigger epilepsy.
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I had the very same problem a month ago. On off on off, there really is no point to it. I think maybe for a Zwifters first few levels or rides just to give a hint of the draft feature or some encouragement, but after that it is not needed or wanted.
While we are at it, they could also get rid of the stickyness on the Tick Tock or Desert routes as I broke a small group up yesterday as they were trying to pass me. The Zwifters that stuck to me had to dig deep to catch up. Sorry fellow Zwifters I was on cool down. At least that’s my excuse for going slow.
But like Dave said
Zwift on.
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Close the gap is Truly obnoxious. If this has been updated and I missed it…then I apologize. If not, is there some resistance to making the user experience better in this regard?
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They either can’t do these seemingly basic things or won’t. Either is pretty pathetic.
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I have complained about this to Zwift for mange years. They wont listen. They do updates all the time but ignore this. I do not do races anymore because of this. I only do my own custom workouts.
Perhaps they are listening, but your voice is in the minority. Personally, I don’t care if its there, or not, but I also don’t even really notice it anymore. I am interested to see, though, if this message becomes ‘optional’ when the new UI comes out.
Well. People have complained about this for 4-5 years now. I get around the message by only doing custom workouts. I cant stand watching the message during races. I know about drafting… I dont need to see it a 100 times.
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Yes, some people have complained about it. Probably not a majority of users. however. (Though, truly, I’m not even sure that would make a difference to the Zwift developers.)
Not some. Many many people. And I think there is more out there. They Just dont complain about it here. They update the game very often. But the close the gap crap. I think its a prinsiple for Zwift.
With over 150,000 people entered in the recent Zwift Academy program (which is likely still far from the total number of Zwift users), I would doubt that anywhere close to half have complained. (Certainly not on this forum, anyway, where I would guess the complaints are, perhaps, a few hundred.) So, until this issue reaches a far larger critical mass, I doubt it will be addressed.
As I indicated, I don’t really pay much attention to it. But, I think it would be nice if it were at least limited to events where losing a wheel might be important to know. (I mean, do I really care if I’m losing the wheel while JRA? Not so much.) And if you had further control to turn it on and off that would be even better.
It should be possible to choose to have the message displayed or not. Ideally, easily available from the UI without having to stop. I like to get the message while racing but would have it turned off for freeriding.
The OP suggests that the message could be displayed more context-dependently. There is definitely some room for improvement here and his suggestions would address most of the situations where I find the message annoying.
Alternatively, the information about drafting could be redesigned to make it less intrusive than the current in-your-face" message.
Doesn’t it go away if you turn on “hide the HUD” mode?
Another vote for this, but within the wider context of being able to customise the UI generally.
I would like to be able to have the option to (individually, not by turning off entire HUD) turn on/off a few other things:
- Turn off giant blue spinning thumbs/ride on display (and noise)
- Turn off name tags appearing over random riders
- Turn off “increase power”/“reduce power” message in workouts - when I’m in ERG mode I literally cannot control the power so telling me to do so is irritating as hell
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I’ve been using the Wahoo RGT system this winter, and they have an options menu that allows one to toggle various display elements, such as rider lists, names on riders, power/cadence/HR, etc. It’s handy and easy to use and declutters the screen.
Also, in the RGT app, when you close in on a rider, it display a subtle message where the power is displayed, on how many watts you are saving by drafting. I really like this display vs. a GIANT cartoon bike with “close the gap”, which never seems to result in any power savings anyway.
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drafting works a bit different in zwift - you don’t feel anything different but you can either reduce power and go at the same speed or keep the same power and go faster - doesn’t really make sense but that’s the way it is.
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Draft?
You mean there’s a real draft sweet spot on Zwift?
I’ve never felt or seen it.
To me, Zwifting is a time trial with surges to try to stick. 
Could be really more fun if that 20% to 30% less power required when in the “draft”, depending on speed, of course. Also, it’d be cool if crosswinds could gutter riders and create realistic gaps.
I only use Zwift for off-season training to try to stay fit enough for our Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons. But I’ve learned that Zwift racing is a whole 'nuther sport, separate and different from racing outside.
It has been more than five years since this request, but I’m still seeing that bleeping annoying message today. Please make it go away. Most of the time I’m doing intervals at certain target wattage, so I don’t need to close the fricking gap.
Yup this is one of the most annoying features of Zwift for me. I get that it’s there to create some motivation, but let’s maybe be realistic on when to show it.
- I’m capable of 1.7 - 2 w/kg, 2+ if I push. When somebody goes by me at 4w/kg I’m not going to be able to “close the gap”.
- I was trying to rehab a knee injury and and I just felt that Zwift was attempting to re-injure me by encouraging me to push past comfortable light spinning.
- Riding in a group, super annoying.
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Totally agree. My “workaround” is pressing H to hide the HUD and using the Companion app on phone to see the data I want.