After 5 long months, the new version of the VirtuPro Cycling Game was ready for release.

The “soft launch” of version 48.6.0.0 was available to download from Tuesday 18th Oct. 2022.

As per the instructions given, I deleted all the old VirtuPro files, and continued with the installation.

The files were 7.4 GB – and was very slow to download – the install was obviously ‘throttled.’

At about 70% and 50mins into the download, it basically crashed with the message – “An error occurred while preparing update. Failed to prepare task. The remote name could not be resolved: cdn-veloton.cyanide-studio.com”.

However, the second time of downloading went OK and the programme installed itself correctly. However, it took over 3hrs in total.

As an aside – I also installed the programme on my Desktop – install went very smoothly, but it still took over 1½hrs.

First Impressions:

1             The Front end and Back End are still very ‘clunky’… you should not be continually asked ‘Do you want this application to make changes to your computer Hard Drive’.

2             Speed to launch is improved. Pairing Devices much improved and links to devices with no problem. (Still only ANT+… No BLE as yet.)

3             The ‘route’ choice is slightly better, with 3 ‘Free’ Rides and the weekly (now called) ‘Time Trial’ and the Races – with some new routes.

4             Graphics are generally smoother – but still very clumsy in parts… buildings suddenly appear and disappear.

5             The SideKick App is still not available.

6             All rides now save to Strava – even very short rides <1km, however, no elevation saved. (Being worked on.)

7             There are no alternative Bikes or Jerseys – everyone rides around in a Green Jersey with No 1 on the back – except for Races, when you have the Team Kit.

8             The Head Up Display (HUD) or Riding Screen is much clearer, and not so cluttered.

9             There is a known issue with Heart Rate Monitors – HRM. And they don’t record / function correctly.

10          There is no Mini-Map – we just have the Elevation Map.

11          New Route Damaged and Cobbles – has a very interesting Wind effect… However, no trees or vegetation moves when the wind blows… looks very false.

The wind blows mainly Left to Right… however, when the road takes a left turn, the wind now becomes a headwind – there doesn’t seem to be any reduction in rider speed; and when you right turn, the wind becomes a tail wind – again, no increase in speed.

12          There are 4 new Training Sessions – they are very rough around the edges.

13          No Fun Stuff.

14          No Badges / XP Points.

15          No Group Rides.

16          Team Com / Comms – You are supposed to be able to talk to your Team / Other Riders – but that doesn’t seem to work either.

Overall, very much work in progress, and not a huge improvement on the previous version. It has still a long way to go before it is ready for general release.

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Update Wed 26th October:

A new version was released this morning – although it is over half the size of the original download, the new download being 3.8gb, the VirtuPro Support Team are calling it a “small patch” or “hot fix”.

Very few, if any improvements – the only things visible are a couple of new workouts – which aren’t available anyway.

Not really a great start to what could be a great game.