I did my first PC beta ride a couple of days ago, great fun, but a few areas I think could be improved:
Gender-specific comparison - just as Strava lets you separate segment leaderboards by gender, as a female I’d like to be able to compare by gender during the race as well, it’s a bit disheartening being compared to a load of very fast guys all the time! It would be nice if both the list of other riders and the avatars of other riders that you can see indicated their gender. When the info about the jersey stages appears on screen I’d also like to be able to see the fastest female as well as the fastest male.
Time of activity on Strava - when I uploaded my activity to Strava, I noticed that the time it said I had done the activity was not my local time, but presumably either U.S. time or the local time on Jarvis island. It would be nice if it said your local time to be consistent with your other activities. Presumably it could get this from your computer?
Not sure if this is supposed to happen or if I accidentally pressed something on the keyboard, but after about 55 minutes, the screen changed and I couldn’t see through the eyes of my avatar any more, instead it was like I was being played a video about someone else’s ride (sometimes from their perspective, sometimes from an external perspective). The timer for my ride seemed to be still going, but nonetheless I would like the display to show my perspective at all times unless I tell it otherwise!
Tyre slippage - not sure if there is something wrong with my sensor rather than Zwift, but I got this warning A LOT! Including when I was going for segment attempts, very frustrating!
I don’t really like the aero boost etc. bonuses, I’d rather know that my results are all down to my cycling, but that’s just my opinion.
Agree 2. Its the time on Jarvis Island…remember we’re fooling the system through Zwift, showing we’re actually there. Just like if you flew to any other destination and rode. 3. You certainly clicked on one of the other riders names. Click back on your name. 4. Never had this occur 5. You have to hit the spacebar to use the advantage, so just don’t click. Many riders don’t for the same reasoning.
Thanks Craig, I didn’t realise you could click on other people’s names and see their ride. I read somewhere that you can change your viewpoint, but it didn’t say how, do you know how to do that?
I don’t know exactly what Strava requires or how these things work computationally, but is it not possible to change the timestamp on the file and still fool the system (just add a few hours or whatever onto the numbers that Zwift writes in the log file)? Otherwise (for people in a time zone sufficiently far from Jarvis island, like the UK) you’re going to get instances where you do a ride on a certain day in your local time but Strava says it’s actually the day before, which will affect your training log, and it might look like you haven’t done any exercise on a day when you actually have!
I get that you don’t have to use the bonuses, but presumably those at the top of the leaderboards do, so it kind of seems like you have to if you want a chance of winning, almost like a doping situation! Would be fairer if everyone was compared just based on their power I think. Rewards could come instead in the form of something like unlocking the ability to ride more courses (this would be really motivating I think).
Use number keys 1-9 for different camera viewpoints. 0 makes the current view panoramic. Your other points have been noted also from others. I see your points. If you ride a smart trainer there’s no chance of ever being close to the top of the leaderboard, but the data is more accurate. I did an easy ride with just my PM and I had PR’s all over the place. I think many of us are hoping for a way to split the riders as those with controlled resistance and those with none. That would be my biggest wish. Even if we could see an icon next to those with a “smart” trainer vs. non. Happy riding.
These are really good points. I would add that as the Zwift membership increases, you could have 2 choices for each route, a free for all “game version” with power ups etc, and one to populate for those of us with Smart Trainers (like the Kickr) for a more “pure”, power based experience, where everyone is equally matched (based on their equipment, not their ability!!)