Weather feature

Feature Requests
1

Hello,

I was thinking about how Zwift could be more realistic. Nowadays, a wide number of devices can be geolocated, such tablets and PC’s or laptops, so why Zwift can’t access to this location, query a weather service and get the weather conditios to use it on the Zwift activity? Of course cold or raining conditions are insignificant on that question, but I think that wind resistance could give to Zwift a more complete experience.

At events the weather could be queried to a main location and the conditions should be the same to all the riders.

Best regards!

2

Hi Crispin,

In the summer in the UK, I do a regular time trial. Some days the wind blows in one direction, some days it blows the other. Last year, there was one week’s TT where there was no wind, and that was considered “the most ideal conditions” of the year.

I like the fact Zwift recreates the best conditions. There’s no wind, no cold, no potholes, no traffic, no punctures. I like riding in a sunny Watopia when it’s cold, dark and windy outside.

I don’t mind having a bit of fake Zwift rain when I’m on a long ride - just to give a bit of visual variety - but if I could choose (and Zwift gives us the ability to choose), I’d rather have ideal conditions than “real”.

2 Likes
3

Hello!

Yes, of course I think this should be a feature that you can activated/deactivate on demand. Here in Barcelona (Spain) we have mostly sun but a lot of wind at the coast and for me it could be a good chance to training with this conditions but without the risk.

BR!

1 Like
4

Apart from the risk, when you have wind in real life, it really just changes the resistance you feel from your bike. You can create extra resistance in a few ways on Zwift, which may help your training.

  1. Ride on Zwift’s gravel roads, which have higher resistance than the asphalt, or ride the wrong type of bike for the road. Ride an MTB on asphalt or a road bike on gravel and you’ll feel an impact similar to riding into a headwind.

  2. Ride a mixed gravel/asphalt course - such as those you find in Makuri Islands. This will simulate a variety of higher resistance (like a headwind) and lower resistance (tailwind).

  3. Ride more hills! If you want to recreate a headwind on a flat road, you’ll get the same impact by riding up a 1% or 2% incline with no wind. Alternatively, simulate riding into a hurricane by riding up Alpe du Zwift!! :wink:

Hope this helps. :slight_smile: