Zwift is a game with gaming severs for athletes - end of story. There will be the same issues with running these servers as there are with running a server for Call of Duty. Why do you think Punkbuster or Valve AntiCheat exists. People cheat, a LOT, in almost everything.
You will have jerks that cheat (emulators), you will have people with lousy equipment, crap PCs, and rubbish internet connections with high ping rates.
These people will ruin, either on purpose or just because they don’t have the money to invest in better equipment, the experience for people that have integrity and the money to invest in a premium experience.
There should be a gateway for those with smart trainers, integrity, good PCs and internet connections to have a premium experience.
I hope everyone knows that all the leader boards could be cleaned up IF the false stats were deleted by these users on Strava. But, as we all see, they are liars that don’t care that their stats are a lie - just like in multiplayer video gaming.
NO ONE averages 1200 watts for an entire lap or length of any course on Zwift, CycleOps, or TrainerRoad.
There is NO ONE over 50 years old, weighing over 200lbs (including me) that has a chance of having the top sprint time, KOM, or lap record in ANY online cycling experience.
I have directly contacted some of these people and 1 admitted that the data was completely inaccurate and yet he still has not deleted the time.
After all this rant, I still really LOVE Zwift and I have amazing workouts on it. I just hope they get their act together (all the companies) and come up with a gaming model that works.