Zwift has announced Urukazi, an expansion to its Makuri Islands hub world with eight new virtual routes.
While previous additions to the Japan-inspired virtual world have taken Zwift users from the Yumezi countryside to the city of Neokyo, Urukazi opens up an interpretation of the Southern Japanese archipelago.
According to Zwift, the name 'Urukazi' is derived from a combination of two Okinawan words (Okinawa island is one of the major islands in the archipelago), 'uru', which means 'shore' and 'kazi' meaning 'breeze'.
Zwift says Urukazi’s eight new routes contain a mix of traditional paved roads, gravel and, as revealed in Zwift’s 2022 Roadmap, the introduction of a virtual surface not seen anywhere else in Zwift – sand.
As with other surfaces in Zwift’s various virtual worlds, these sections will almost certainly have their own characteristics programmed into the app’s in-game physics engine.
Riders will therefore need to choose their virtual bike carefully to optimise rolling performance (virtual grip is, for better or worse, not yet something riders need to consider).
Urukazi’s new routes
The Urukazi expansion introduces eight new routes to Zwift, ranging in length from 2.5 miles / 4 km to 24.9 miles / 40km in length.
Zwift says this brings the total distance of ridable roads in the Makuri Islands hub world to 40 miles / 64.37km.
With elevation gain figures of just over 300m for the longest route, it seems there aren’t any new monster climbs to take on, but there’s still always Alpe du Zwift, or Mont Ven-Top in Zwift’s other worlds.
Here are the new routes, all of which are now live in-game:
- Mech Isle Loop (4km / 38.7m elevation) – short loop around Urukazi’s industrial area
- Bridges and Boardwalks (6.3km / 59.5m elevation) – route exploring the biggest island in Urukazi
- Island Hopper (18km / 128.5m elevation) – every island in Urukazi in one lap
- Fine and Sandy (10.6km / 77.1m elevation) – off-road route for exploring Urukazi’s mangroves and beaches
- Island Outskirts (11.3km / 90.1m elevation) – loop around the outskirts of the new map
- Makuri 40 (40km / 306.6m elevation) – 40km route touring the wider Makuri Islands world
- Country to Coastal (33.4km / 274m elevation) – ride from the Makuri countryside to the ocean in Urukazi
- Turf N Surf (24.6km / 195.8m elevation) – ride from the bright lights of Neokyo to the beaches of Urukazi
Zwift says stages 5 and 6 of the Tour of the Makuri Islands, an ongoing in-game event, will take on these new roads.
Riders wishing to participate can sign up in-game or via the Zwift companion app.
