Might have been answered/discussed, but whats the reasoning behind zrs not changing if you dont finish the race and are considered DNF. Most races I do, about half quit the race before finish line and their score dont get affected. Thanks
Which way should they move?
By not finishing have they come last and should get a deduction? Easy tanking.
Or should they have their score increase as a deterrent? Or is a higher score a reward?
Given the current state of the rest of ZRS, zero movement for a DNF is probably the right way to do it.
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Higher score should be a reward, yes. And maybe, even if DNF-ers score dont get affected, the winners scores should get positive boost from beating them. Just right now it looks people give up easily when they get dropped.
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Thatâs basically how zwiftracing.app handles it. As long as theyâve completed a certain percentage of the race distance.
It feels like a good way to do it, but maybe it works better in a vELO system than it would in OpenSkill.
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As far as anyone can tell someone doesnât even have to start a race for people to get a boost from âbeatingâ them - just register
But currently, the more people that signup for a race or even finish the race, the smaller the result score changes are eg. winning a race against one other person in your pen gives more points than winning against 100 racersâŚ
Which makes sense for a shooting game where you might not encounter everyone equally, but makes absolutely no sense when you are constantly racing everyone in a cycling race on Zwift! 
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Which way should they move?
By not finishing have they come last and should get a deduction? Easy tanking.
Or should they have their score increase as a deterrent? Or is a higher score a reward?Given the current state of the rest of ZRS, zero movement for a DNF is probably the right way to do it.
Bit of a thread necro here, but I do think the current approach is incentivizing DNFs. The best approach might be to prevent them from improving in the future for a game. Meaning, the next completed race where they should earn a ZRS increase, theyâre awarded 0.
That seems like a sandbaggers paradise. They could just DNF every other race and win as much as they want on the races that are blocked from increasing ZRS.
Itâs difficult to properly handle DNFs, because different people look at ZRS differently and might DNF for different reasons. A sandbagger only cares about winning races, and they want their ZRS as low as possible to make it easier to win. They might DNF a race where they would finish near the front but canât win. Another person sees ZRS as rating of their quality as a racer, and they want it get as high as possible. They might DNF a race when theyâre getting dropped and would otherwise lose ZRS points.
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FAQ says no decrease in racing score from a DNF. I havenât tested it to see if it works but I think some others here probably know.
Ah yes, youâre right. I didnât consider the impact on sandbaggers. Frustrating problem.
I think the people who DNF races when dropped are a little annoying at worst and donât ruin races, so itâs more important to do whatever possible prevent sandbagging when the two goals are in conflict.
For discouraging DNFs in general, I think Zwift should give an XP and/or Drop bonus for completing any race. My suggestion would be that races give XP at 75% the normal rate per mile/km during the race and then give a 50% bonus when you finish (the exact numbers arenât important). That would encourage riders (especially new riders) to race and finish.
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DNF get +10 points you dnf 10 times, now race up full tier, have fun with that if you think bad time racing now just that much harder.
So many races I burn out and get last, but half the time I donât even lose points because half the field DNFâd. My racing score just keeps going up and up even when my racing ability doesnât change at all.
How about no XP, no drops, no hourly progress, no km progress, no challenge progress and no equipment progress if you DNF a race? Basically give all the rewards at the end of the race, not incremental during a race. A DNF is treated like a DNS and it is as if it never happened. Really, if you start a race, thereâs not many good reasons for not finishing it âŚ
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What is the current status of race score decreasing due to inactivity?
This was turned off a while back.
Was it reinstituted?
Over summer, I will log in weekly and do a 1-2 mile warm up ride to keep my steak active.
I wonât have 6 months of inactivity but I will have 6 months of very short and low intensity activities.
Is this going to lower my ZRS?
If I really cared, I could keep subscription active, now that outside rides count, but then, I donât have Wahoo or Garmin.
Hi @Tim_Camden_C.
This is Haziel from Zwift, and I truly appreciate you sharing your thoughts about how inactivity impacts your racing score.
I understand that managing your activity levels can be challenging, and itâs important to know that the Zwift Racing Score (ZRS) system still takes inactivity into account, this hasnât changed. While it does slightly decrease your score to reflect natural fitness declines and increased uncertainty, rest assured that it wonât drop below your current floor value, which is determined by your power best from recent activities.
Itâs worth mentioning that your Racing Score primarily hinges on your race results and finishing positions. For your initial score, known as your seed score, we look at your 5-minute power from all activities on Zwift over the past 90 days. After setting your initial score, weâll keep using data from all your activities moving forwardânot just racesâto help determine your minimum floor value, please check this article Zwift Racing Score FAQ for more information.
I hope this helps clarify things a bit! If you have any further questions or if thereâs anything else you need support with, please donât hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for the reply.
The information was a good review but didnât directly answer the nuance of my question.
Iâm aware that my score will not go below my seed
My seed is based upon best 5 min power for 90 days.
I guess my question is, what happens to the seed score of : 1. no activity x6 months and 2. very low intensity activities for 6 months.
I strongly suspect that pen E will say hi.
Since Racing Score testing began last summer, weâve been saying time and time again, power data for riders with a history needs to go back ~12 months, rather than just 90 days.
Come September/October (when northern hemisphere riders return from riding outside), this foolish 90 day data rule is going to wreck the lower pens for months, just as the 90 day rule always has done going back to the old Zwiftpower system using your three best 20min efforts.
Thatâs kind of what I figured.
I thought I could just race up a cat and reset my 5 min power for my seed when the time comes.
They should make it so inactivity has no affect on seed score.
If a rider loses fitness, that will show up from riding
Lack of data is usually not from lack of fitness.
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They even said it in the roadmap mid november they would :
âLooking further back than 90 days for the seed score (est Jan 2025)â
But they never delivered.
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