ZPoints vs Race Ranking

Racing ZwiftPower Community
1

What’s the difference between ZPoints and Race Ranking? Both are displayed on profile, and reading about both on Zwift’s documentation and ZwiftInsider, they sound like very similar things: Zwift says " ZPoints is a unique ranking system to your ZwiftPower ranking", while it’s much easier to find an explanation for what Race Ranking is (ZwiftInsider has a whole article about it).

Is there a functional difference between the two?

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Race Ranking is as you have probably read - It is the ranking you get from races only

ZPoints is a ranking based on three areas:
Fastest times achieved in certain Zwift game segments
Your power and W/kg over three time periods
Your Race Ranking

Add the three scores together to get your overall ZPoints ranking.

Information below comes from ZwiftPower, Rankings, ZPoints, FAQ. (The Segments information is not at all accurate or current)

Segments

  • Every race your best segment times are recorded.
  • The fastest legitimate time of each segment is multiplied by 3 to get a “standard time”.
  • The difference is then split into 600 possible points for the number of seconds below that you are.
  • Each day we calculate the average times for all riders over the last 90 days.
    • Example: Watopia Forward best time is 1:25 (85 seconds)
    • To get points you must be under 2:50 (170 seconds)
    • 600 / 85 = 7.05 points per second you go under 2:50
  • Your 6 highest points are used, each capped to 100 points.

Power

  • Your best 1 minute, 5 minute and 20 minute power and WKG are converted to points.
  • This is done by simply multiplying each value by a specific number, as follows:
    • 1 Minute Power - 1 point per Watt
    • 5 Minute Power - 1.2 points per Watt
    • 20 Minute Power - 1.5 points per Watt
    • 1 Minute WKG - 60 points per WKG
    • 5 Minute WKG - 85 points per WKG
    • 20 Minute WKG - 100 points per WKG
  • Each is capped to 600 points.

Racing
This is simply your racing rank. It is calculated as follows: (600 - rank)*6.
If your rank is 320, your ZPoints racing score will be (600 - 320) = 280 * 6 = 1680.

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Thanks for the reply, Ian! Interesting: I had no idea that ZPoints were more complex than Race Ranking, and doubly no idea that those were the other factors it takes into account.

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