Seems like Zwift has a huge potential for different kind of races, though at the moment most races are pretty short makes them more or less like a time trial 100% full on.
Will we ever see 3 to 5 hour races in the future so that you really have to work in the peleton, also that would mean more tactical races, teams working as one, breakaway groups…
What is our communities thoughts on this? Any other ideas that have come up?
Zwift doesn’t run the races, they are setup by 3rd parties. There is a Facebook group for Zwift Racers and one for Zwift Riders maybe those are better places to post that question.
Just trying to point you in the right direction so you can get the answers you are looking for.
Ok, thanks.
I’ll post there as well.
Check out the KISS 100 races that go for 100km. They last somewhere around 2:30 to 3:30 for most people. Maybe not quite as long as what you are looking for, but they are presently the long format race put on by third parties.
I am not sure but there use to be an Asia titled race that was 40-60 miles long. Mountain route twice on Sundays. Ended up being a personal tt after 10 miles haha.
@Evan, I can understand that, hehe. So maybe longer races isn’t the solution for more tactical, or fun to watch races.
I’m still interested in the e-sport potential that Zwift has.
I’m glad we’ve at least started a discussion around it’s possibilities.
On a personal level I’m way to slow to compete for anything but D races, but would enjoy more variations of races, everything from a more “tour” stage race setup. Maybe even many short stages in one day on weekends?! Also I think we need race instances so that riders not in the same race are not visible. Better tools for statistics, cameras, yeah the list is endless.
Another idea would to evolve the different jerseys, where for example the polka dot or green Jersey could be given to different weight or age brackets and so on…
There is immense potantial 
I think wind and wind direction should be a factor.
With the different rides I have ridden and rides I have conducted I notice the shorter all out laps tend to mimic real world racing the best. For example, the whole group is riding at a given wattage and then the conductor announces a race lap at the banner. The whole group is together going at speed. Splits happen and separate into smaller groups. Attacks and counter attacks happen. Then last few remaining sprint to the finish line.
Last year I conducted a tour stage in watopia. 3 days where the top winning riders were awarded points. The wattage output was held specifically for the first 3 laps and 4 lap we raced. It worked out well but the most difficult part was getting all the riders to adhere to the wattage output the first 3 laps. Each day was a different direction on the course. Someday I would like to do it again and include a TT stage the first or last day.
A ride I did yesterday had a race lap. At the beginning of the lap the group split from those who wanted to race and those that wanted to finish the ride. A rider attacked going out of the water tunnel on watopia and two riders bridged. They then rode together by taking pulls inside the volcano. The group behind of 7-10 got within 3-4 seconds of the lead group but could not close it. Coming out the volcano the lead group attacked each other and they all finished within a second.
I think it is a matter of months until racing gets more and more real. Zwift makes updates continuously and are constantly evolving better.
I do the 100km KISS race every week. It’s my favorite race. This week was longer, 6 laps over Box Hill, I think 130k.
The hardest thing about Zwift is that you can’t really coast at all. If you coast, even for a second, you get dropped like you are standing still. I had to loosen my shoe because I had it too tight, and I got dropped by my group and had to burnt a lot of matches just regaining the group. This is very unlike real life, where in a typical 100Km race, you can ease off the pace, and coast frequently. In Zwift, you have to keep constant power on the pedals and this is tough for 2-3 hours on a trainer.
Still, it’s great training.