I have a friend who has a high-end computer/graphics setup. I want to impress him and get him hooked on Zwift. He is into impressive graphics and REALISM for the total immersion effect. So the NY routes through the sky are definitely out.
What is the best Zwift route that shows off the graphics and is pretty realistic to what you might see in real life?
The Yumezi routes in the Makuri Islands. So the daytime countryside stuff - Neokyo is fab graphics but thereās a chance the realism factor might not quite be right there?
We would need a definition of āhigh-end computerā. 
I think the ārealismā of Zwift comes from the ability to draft and message other riders.
Without these, we might as well be doing trainer road workouts or just riding ITT efforts.
I never look at the scenery but today, on the Alpe, I kept an eye out for the Yeti.
Well, his graphics card cost more than my house!
Heās in graphic arts so is impressed by realistic graphics. I think he could deal with the occasional dinosaur on the side of the road or glass tube through the water. Routes along the rooftops, flying saucers, gaudy neon through an indoor casino, not so much!
Doesnāt count for much Iām afraid, Makuri is horrendously CPU bound. Iād wager heād be very unimpressed by the performance versus the visuals tbh.
Zwift isnāt known for ārealisticā graphics, I suspect he wonāt be very impressed.
I quite like the view from the Epic KOM bypass in Watopia. Coming from the jungle side you get a view down to Watopia marina, Titanās and a little bit of desert. You also get a nice effect from the huge bridge dropping down in to the distance (Titanās side).
Howeverā¦ the route is Ocean Lava Cliffside Loop. So you have a trip through the volcano first and then some glass tunnels on the way back. You could always manually go over the small KOM and then navigate your way to the bypass though.
France would probably be the world with the most detailed graphics and no fantasy, even though itās not based on one exact real life location.
My general thoughts on this is that the worlds have got more detailed with every one Zwift launches, so the most detailed worlds are the most recent.
As people have mentioned, Makuri is great - though could be seen as more āfantasyā than the next most recent worlds of France and Paris. I think Yorkshire is fantastic (Iāve ridden the course in real life and it feels similar), plus the āSand & Sequioasā extension which was added to Watopia is great too.
The most immersive place for me feels like the Watopia jungle - because thereās lots around you, in close proximity to you. I also feel like the resistance of the gravel surface feels more natural from the asphalt elsewhere.
I like the Mall in London, fairly realistic within the London Classique course
London in general seems very realistic to me. I guess Richmond has the most recent graphics of the reality-based worlds, but the route is better suited for racing than sightseeing.
This is probably just me, but all the fictional worlds (Watopia, France, Makuri) somehow profoundly offend my sense of civil engineering all the time. In NYC I stay on the ground level anyway, the stuff in the air bothers me less than bidirectional traffic on 5th Aveā¦
Since Richmond was refreshed though, London has by far the lowest end graphics. I doubt this chap will be impressed by the buildings and textures.
If he is expecting Zwift to look like Forza Horizon 5 thenā¦ wellā¦
Yeah, sounds maybe more like a case for GT Bike Vā¦
Alpe has decent visuals and France is very good.
Go rebel route. Select jungle route and do u-turn at start. Then down hill, select bypass to go to the bypass road. Very nice indeed