Zwift has announced the latest content, features and events coming to the app this winter, as well as updates to Zwift-compatible hardware.
In celebration of its 10-year anniversary – after launching in September 2014 – Zwift is focusing on expanding the app’s core virtual world, Watopia, alongside updates to training and racing content over the coming months.
This season’s events and challenges, including the Tour of Watopia, an updated racing calendar and new training plans, have also been detailed.
Zwift has also unveiled overhauls of the in-game HUD (Heads Up Display), which enables users to customise what information they see while riding, and the Zwift Garage – the game’s virtual bike store.
Adding in more gamified features, Zwift says riders will now be able to unlock upgrades for their favourite virtual bikes – and a series of new iconic ‘Halo Bikes’ – using in-game currency earned while riding.
Beyond software, the brand has revealed the frameset portion of the Zwift Ride smart bike is now available to purchase independently of a smart trainer, as well as an updated version of its Zwift Cog singlespeed conversion kit for smart trainers.
We’ve covered these hardware announcements in greater detail in a separate article, so click through to read all about Zwift’s winter 2024 hardware updates.
Watopia expansion
Following the addition of The Grade climb in June, the latest expansion to Zwift’s hub world, Watopia, is coming this November.
Instead of offering details of the new roads and environmental features, Zwift has teased that ‘ancient structures’ will emerge from the sea surrounding Watopia during stage five of the 2024 Tour of Watopia.
According to Zwift, the expansion will "build off the history of Zwift and take Zwifters back in time”, but that’s all we know for now.
From the sole image provided, though, we can decipher that the expansion will occur in the northeastern portion of the Watopia world map, adjacent to the volcano.
HUD updates
Following an initial announcement in April, Zwift has revealed more details about the customisation options coming for the game’s Heads Up Display (HUD).
As well as an aesthetic update, riders can now choose between seven customisable metrics to fill the four available slots.
Zwift has also implemented a power zone distribution bar that indicates at a glance what power zone you’re riding in (assuming you’ve set your FTP correctly in-game).
A new ‘Dynamic Elevation’ display will also offer greater insight into the difficulty of upcoming sections of virtual climbs within the game.
As before, riders will still be able to hide the HUD altogether by pressing H on a connected keyboard or via the Zwift Companion app for smartphones.
Zwift Garage gets an upgrade
As well as options to organise bikes and kit by ‘most recently used’ or unlocked, Zwift is adding the ability for riders to upgrade the virtual bikes they use in-game.
Every bike frame in the game (including the Zwift Concept Z1) will have five ‘stages’ of unlocks, which involve completing different in-game challenges.
These challenges will be based on time, distance, elevation and so on, and will vary depending on the bike you’re looking to upgrade. Unlocking upgrades for climbing bikes will involve climbing, for example.
Once an upgrade challenge is completed, riders will need to spend accumulated Drops to unlock performance boosts such as reduced weight, aerodynamic drag or rolling resistance.
While it might seem unfair to require riders to both complete challenges and spend their hard-earned in-game currency to unlock these upgrades, Zwift says a significant number of riders have built up a large amount of “sweat equity” over the last few years, and that this system offers a new way to spend that.
If you’re new to the game and don’t have much equity in the bank, check out our Zwift tips for beginners article to find out how you can earn Drops at a faster rate.
Zwift Halo Bikes
Recent additions to Zwift’s in-game bike shop (the Drop Shop) include recently launched road bikes such as the 2024 Canyon Aeroad CFR and latest Pinarello Dogma F.
Now, though, Zwift is digging into cycling’s past and bringing iconic ‘Halo Bikes’ to the platform.
At the time of writing, the Pinarello Espada – the legendary bike used by Miguel Induráin to break the UCI Hour Record in 1994 – is the only ‘Halo Bike’ to have been revealed, and we don’t yet know how much it will cost.
According to Zwift, these bikes will offer “high performance and huge street cred” and will be priced accordingly.
What other iconic bikes would you like to see added to Zwift? Let us know in the comments below.
Zwift Racing Score public roll-out
Having been initially announced this time last year, Zwift Racing Score has been refined as a result of rider feedback and will be ready for an app-wide roll-out in early October.
The basic concept of Zwift Racing Score remains the same – taking several factors into consideration, it aims to help riders find more evenly matched competition by assigning every rider a ‘score’ between 0 and 1,000.
Zwift Racing Score replaces the traditional A, B, C and D categories, which were based on your power-to-weight ratio, and instead takes into account your power output, race results and, by extension, race craft and strategy.
Your score will be updated after every race and will take into account the riders you beat, to help make races with large fields and strong competition more meaningful (because it’s not simply about securing a podium or top 10 finish, for example).
New racers will be scored according to their power output from previous Zwift activities, and will then gain or lose points depending on their results.
Zwift also promises the new system will be more dynamic than before, because it can shift according to your current fitness level with greater granularity.
This season’s new Zwift events, challenges and training plans
In terms of races and events to participate in, Zwift says it has a calendar of events, races and challenges planned out through to the next Zwift Games in March 2025.
In addition to a packed programme of racing, a number of new training plans and challenges will be added to Zwift.
These include new route challenge badges to unlock and the Cardio Crusher training plan, which consists of five new workouts targeting a range of fitness goals, all lasting less than an hour.
Zwift says more challenges will be added over the course of the season.
Popular favourites such as the Tour of Watopia and Zwift Academy will be back in November too, alongside a new workout programme called Zwift Camp: Baseline.
Zwift says riders who complete the six workouts in this programme will receive a report identifying their strengths and weaknesses, with challenges following to help them “take the next step with their fitness goals”.
