When the internet disconnects from their servers, like it did with me on Saturday, the app quits if not connected again within a minute. Zwift just loses the other Zwifters, but still allows riding, although one might be dropped from the group. A little frustrating when doing on of the longer rides, eg. A Hilly Day Out (70km, 2000m elevation gain) quits at 38.1km completed.
If they can fix that, it would be even better than it already is.
Example of Zwift with a (temporary) lost internet connection (top) and reconnected (bottom).
I started on IV about two weeks ago and honestly, it has been awesome. Initially I was worried about missing the community on Zwift. But, the racing and riding is much more dynamic than Zwift. I thought racing bots would be boring, but they actually make it more fun because they take more chances than your typical conservative Zwift race.
There are 10,000 bots in IV and they each have their own power curve and racing tendencies. I did a crit on Wednesday and was surprised to to see 2 riders take off in a breakaway on lap 2/12. I chased them down and we rode out front for a few laps before the peloton reeled us back in. Those two got pretty worn out and didn’t fare well in the final sprint.
So, I think this may have to do with the fundamental philosophy of IV and may not be something that can change. I am basing this on an interview with George on the Virtual Velo podcast. IV is first and foremost an esports platform with a goal of helping virtual cycling become an olympic sport. As a result, racing integrity is a primary concern the app is built with that in mind. Everything in IV happens on the server and what you see is a reflection of that. Everyone sees the exact same thing on IV. Zwift is not like this. The game is running client side and sending data back to the server. As a result, what you see doesn’t always reflect what the server reports to Zwiftpower, for example.
It would be nice to be able to finish out the ride and maybe he could develop some sandbox mode where results are thrown out, but not sure. Also, this is all outside of my realm of expertise and may not make any sense