“The Most Realistic Indoor Cycling Experience. Ever.”
I first came across the indoor cycling game VirtuPro Cycling early in 2021 when it was originally called Veloton Cycling.
There was a lot of hype and social media activity around the launch of the game, and you could sign up as a Beta Tester.
The website site had the headline: “Veloton combines the realism of video games with the intensity of serious training and helps you perform. Complete challenges and earn achievements in routes based on real life stages.”
The graphics from the original videos were truly realistic and far surpassed anything that Zwift was able to produce.
The game was only able to work with a limited number of Smart Trainers or on their own Veloton Indoor Bike., and was only available in a WIN10 version.
The first showing of the game was at a Fitness Fair/Exhibition in Germany in 2019.
There was a waiting list to be allowed to download the game and my turn arrived in March 2022.
I had forgotten all about it, however, an email arrived, and after confirming that my set up would run the game – it only works with Window (Win 10) and a fairly specific list of Trainers.
I downloaded the game and over the summer have been trying it out.
The game is now called VirtuPro Cycling and is available at: www.virtuprocycling.com – “VirtuPro brings you closer to reality”
There are many good ideas in the game, and quite a few not so good as well.
It is very much a product in development, and is a cycling game for road racers, that is being built by road racers. There is not a lot for the casual / social rider, (at the moment) whether this will change remains to be seen.
The front end is very clunky, and not very intuitive, once past that and into the game itself, there are 3 specific areas:
Free Ride: Of which there are only 2, both 5kms long – one flat and one rolling.
Time Attack: Where you can ride a number of pre-planned courses. Every week there is a challenge of riding a course against the clock, the aim is getting on the leader board. One week it might be a Flat Course, and the next week a Hilly or Mountain ride.
You ride against a Bot (or AI) of another rider, or yourself if you have already ridden the course.
Race: Join a full Team of Pro Riders, from a selection of vaguely disguised pro teams, with some very unlikely riders, such as P Sagaa or A Greipee.
My favourite is that great Australian rider C Ewab.
Racing is the meat of the game. There are many Races to choose from, all based on real races.
There are Tours – each with a number of stages or a single stage from a specific Tour.
Overall, it is very complicated, and without any Manual / Help File / You Tube Videos it is quite difficult to get started. Or even understand what is going on.
There is much to admire in the game, the graphics are excellent, however, there are still many areas that need to be addressed. Some of it is very clunky and needs a lot of work.
It is very much work in progress, to be successful, the development team are going to have to broaden the appeal to riders and make it easier to work out what is going on.
One final issue is; not all rides upload to Strava!
It will be interesting to see the next phase of development when it is released in September 2022.