Zwift Chat

[alex_cycles]

I prefer Sauce draft number.

Zwift's draft indicates when you're in the draft thats it.

His analysis of draft I think is incorrect. The faster you're travelling the greater the draft benefit hence a higher number .

This tells me (correct me if wrong) the Watts Im saving compared to me riding on the front trying to maintain the same speed

Correct, but it shows the additional Watts you would need to push to go at current speed alone on the flat.
Which is why the numbers look so silly on downhills. I've seen situations where I'm pushing 150 on a downhill and seeing 300-400 in the draft indicator. If I was to push those extra 400 I'd be way off the front of the pack.

 

[alex_cycles]

What I suspect the new indicator bar is telling you is effectively where you are in that cone - i.e if you are well positioned in the red you will have a full bar, but if off to the side for example it will show less draft. As you can see from the images, you would still get a red section of draft behind just one rider if you're well positioned, so you'd still potentially get a full blue bar on screen. This is what appears to be happening in the video.

Yep - that's my take on it. It shows you if you are getting all the available draft at this point in time.
I also prefer to see a number, but I guess I'm gonna get both now, wanted or not

 

[bridgy]

Yep - that's my take on it. It shows you if you are getting all the available draft at this point in time.
I also prefer to see a number, but I guess I'm gonna get both now, wanted or not

Yeah I think I'll have to live with it a bit and see how useful I find the Zwift graphic and whether that's all I need/want. I currently use the Pedal Games draft indicator which also show watt savings (I'm assuming they're using the same numbers picked up by Sauce)

There does seem to be some use for showing a watt saving number (even if it's not 100% accurate) because it clearly shows when you go uphill and slow down that your watt savings also go down (even if you're in maximum available draft) and that you therefore have to more closely match the rider(s) in front of you to stay with them

 

[alex_cycles]

Yeah I think I'll have to live with it a bit and see how useful I find the Zwift graphic and whether that's all I need/want. I currently use the Pedal Games draft indicator which also show watt savings (I'm assuming they're using the same numbers picked up by Sauce)

There does seem to be some use for showing a watt saving number (even if it's not 100% accurate) because it clearly shows when you go uphill and slow down that your watt savings also go down (even if you're in maximum available draft) and that you therefore have to more closely match the rider(s) in front of you to stay with them

I never really look at it while racing anyway. I know I need to be 2-3 rows back from the front (or more) and directly behind people where possible.
Being on the front in the final 10-20 metres is ideal though
The main problem with Sauce numbers is that sometimes they are bang up-to-date and sometimes they lag up to a couple of seconds. It depends on the feed. Sauce gets its data stream by pretending to be Companion App and "fan viewing" you. So if there is a lag there, your data will be "behind". I don't know how pedal games does it but it must be similar.

I really mainly display draft on screen for the video feed and post mortem afterwards. There isn't a lot of tactical data processing going on in my head when racing