The future of Zwift and how it could change your indoor training

Promotional feature in association with Zwift

The virtual training platform Zwift has revolutionised indoor cycling. Soft launched in 2014 before its full release a year later, the app offered riders a visual distraction from the once boring pursuit of turbo training, opening up whole new virtual worlds for cyclists to explore from the comfort of their spare rooms and garages. 

The following 10 years have seen it evolve and adapt, becoming the main player in a competitive indoor cycling market. Favoured by more than a million active subscribers, it now boasts 12 worlds for riders’ avatars to spin around in, more than 3,000 workouts and training plans in its library, and has fostered a whole new discipline of competitive racing that has been awarded its own UCI World Championship rainbow jersey since 2020. It also has a growing line of hardware to make indoor cycling easier and more immersive than ever, including the innovative Zwift Ride Smart Bike and the Zwift Play steering and braking controls.

But what does the future of Zwift look like? And will your indoor training experience be transformed all over again? Rouleur caught up with Zwift’s Chris Snook to find out…

Trendsetters

The indoor cycling space has seen two camps emerge in recent years. On one side sits Zwift with its virtual world and gamified experiences like levelling up and personalised avatars; on the other is a focus on real-world footage. But which will win out?

“I don't think it has to be one or the other; I think the two can coincide,” says Snook. He adds that one of the biggest requests the platform gets is “Mario Kart for bikes” but for now, the developers are focused on “improving the core Zwift experience”. “Training is something that we're particularly focused on at the moment, and bringing additional training, tools and benefits to customers. 

“The other thing is community. Community is such a big part of Zwift. We have tens of thousands of clubs operating on Zwift. Eric [Min, Zwift’s CEO] is very keen that we can offer further tools that support the community and specifically the community event organisers and leaders to create more experiences of their own as a lot of the events come through Zwift centrally at the moment.”

Level up

When it comes to gamification, don’t expect to be firing red shells at breakaway groups anytime soon. “The gamification that really will appeal to cyclists isn’t like Mario Kart but the reward-based elements that are quite common in gaming that we can use to help keep people engaged,” says Snook.

As Zwift is based on an earned economy – “there's no in-app purchases; you have to earn your way” – riders have to put in the hours to accrue the currency ‘Drops’ for purchases in their virtual garages.

“One of the things we're working on right now is bike upgrades. Most cyclists like to tinker with their bike and upgrade – buying faster, lighter tyres, or deep-section wheels. We want to bring an element of that to the Zwift garage. The idea is if you want to upgrade a bike, there'll be a challenge associated with it, and once you've completed that challenge, you can buy the next level upgrade to your bike.” It’s not just for show either, with each upgrade improving a bike’s in-game characteristics like weight, rolling resistance, and aerodynamics.

Futuristic tools

Two things that could dramatically change the indoor cycling experience once more are artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR).

“We use AI for some of our development work,” says Snook. “We're looking at the technology, but the product team is adamant that we don't want to release a feature just to tick the AI box. If we launch an AI feature it has to deliver true value to our community.”

Min has said he envisions a time when machine learning will help the program analyse how you performed in a workout, and recommend what you should do next. “Those two pieces should, in theory, represent a replacement for an expensive coach, and that is a solution for 90%-95% of the customer base,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Virtual reality meanwhile requires the technology to improve before it can be used for indoor cycling. “The problem with VR at the moment is the headsets are too bulky, too heavy, and they're too sweaty – anyone that's ridden indoors knows how quickly you get your sweat on, so it's not a pleasant experience,” says Snook. 

“It will be interesting to see where that technology goes. I can see that being the next-level experience – being able to look to your left and you can see the riders alongside you would be incredibly immersive. Whether that's VR or AR, we'll have to see but I know that that's something that we'll keep an eye on.”

Racing for all

One thing that’s for sure is that eRacing is going to be a big part of cycling’s future. “[eRacing has] got a bright future,” says Snook. “We've seen the UCI are backing it. It's a level playing field and removes some of those geographical barriers that cycling has at the moment where a lot of people outside of Europe feel like they need to move to Europe if they want to be a WorldTour cyclist. That's not the case with eSports. 

“What we feel is important now is to focus on community and building that pathway to the top. So we're focused on trying to make racing on Zwift more accessible. That was one of the reasons we implemented the racing score – it makes it much easier for people to come in and find the right group based not only on their fitness level but also on their racing ability. When it comes to racing, it's not just about fitness, it's also about racecraft and knowing when to use your energy.

“At the moment, I think racing still feels quite intimidating, which it need not be. Understandably, people might be intimidated by racing outdoors because they don't want to crash, but that concern is removed [indoors]. We want to help people appreciate the training and fitness benefits of racing, but also the competitive fun that you can have when racing on Zwift.

“The more people that race, the more people are going to start watching the broadcast and the streams of racing. And that's ultimately what will lead to sustainable sport with additional investment.”