I’m curious if there are any plans to update the graphics quality in Zwift. My 4070 super runs everything very well. Even an older card generally running only 1080p max looked good. But I wondered if there was any plans to offer shading, ray tracing or anything like that on higher capability cards? Also, will there be the ability to change to a different look and feel to either the scenery or racers, sorta like what Minecraft does?
Thanks.
I think the chances of hearing anything about that in advance of its release are exceedingly remote. So remote that I would not even think about it, just enjoy it if it ever happens.
Nooo. We love vintage style graphics. 
The usual style of response when someone suggests this.
It doesn’t seem all that efficient on powerful machines, even MSFS 2024 runs at very high detail in 6K resolution at smooth 70fps on my Radeon RX9070XT without that card even getting hot. Even the CPU isn’t stressed - and it’s not even a new CPU, it’s from 2019 time frame and doesn’t hold a candle to any of the current generation.
Surely some time in the future improvements to get better looking graphics and bigger worlds running on lower spec potato devices must be a thing.
With an option to select portal graphics for those people who prefer those (we have seen people say they like the portal graphics).
likely need a new engine to run it for better looking graphics but then you run the risk of needing specific hardware and will likely be too much for many to run
Some of the newer engines scale to everything from phones to desktops, while looking decent on all of them.
MSFS 2024 is a nice example, it runs far smoother on my existing computer than the older versions ever did. In VR mode it is really usable. It is well optimised, People didn’t have to build new machines for it. It runs better on that computer than Zwift does.
These worlds are not stored on your computer; they are downloaded in real time as you ride. So if they had more detail there would have to be more data transferred and synced with the ride which could cause lag in this multi-player game, especially during races and group rides. I would rather have fast speed and accurate location data than graphics detail; it would be very annoying if other riders were bouncing all over the screen.
Zwift world graphical assets are part of the game installation
This is incorrect. All the graphical data is shipped with the installation of the app.
It was only an assumption since it only took a few minutes to install. So all the jumping fans and banners are all stored on my hardrive?
There is still a lot of data getting sent while you ride showing rider position on the road and watts, speed etc…
It’s really a tiny amount of data. ~150MB/hr.
I’m all for better graphics if there are no downsides like lag or jerky video.
My video setup is a 4K laser projector on a 135” screen. My avatar rider is about the same size as me, so it is very realistic when I ride!
I originally built this for training in off road car racing. I have a full size custom built cockpit that matches my race car with all the foot pedals and steering in the same exact positions. I run Dirt Rally 2 which has the best graphics and no lag out of all the racing games I have tried, and I have tried them all on Steam.
Zwift performance with the current game engine is in most cases limited by single thread performance of the CPU. Exactly how busy the GPU is will depend on the specific hardware you are using to run the game but especially when there are a lot of riders on the screen, poor frame rates will be a result of the CPU and not the GPU.
This happens already, I frequently see riders jumping about randomly. You can be coming up to overtake them and see them disappear and jump forward another 100m.
The most common cause of that is the jumpy rider has a crap network connection to Zwift
Yes, most likely the trainer is connected to a laptop that is using wifi to connect to the router.
Given the low bandwidth requirement, as James stated, people should use the 2.4 Ghz band on their router if they have a dual-band router. The 2.4 radio has up to 10x the range of the 5.0 radio. So unless your wifi router is in the same room as your trainer, you can expect to have signal drop-outs with 5.0.
To have a proper 5.0 Ghz installation, you really need multiple hardwired access points to get full coverage inside a large multi-story house.
Also possible that they are simply in a part of the world where connectivity to the west coast of the US sucks, like VPN from Russia.
When I see a situation where 2.4GHz WiFi is necessary to get decent reliability, my conclusion is that’s a sign that you should fix your WiFi network if at all possible because it will make life better for everything you do online, not just Zwift.
And also if they are trying to split screen YouTube and Zwift, or other devices in the house streaming videos at the same time like a cable modem since it is sharing the same bandwidth compared to sattelite.
Nearly always the rider is from that country, so this is probably the reason.
My GF runs on her old iPad. Anything which harms her experience by overloading that is going to make her want to use Zwift less.
MyWhoosh has fancier graphics and in some cases I think it touches on uncanny valley. Cartoonish graphics work well on Zwift.