After a lot of Autumn Promises in the way of update for my Virtual Cycling ‘games’, not a lot has been delivered. So I have been looking further into my options.
CADEsport: they came up with exciting developments, and a lot of new ‘stuff’… however, when it came to downloading and running the game… my laptop just wasn’t powerful enough, and there were just too many errors.
So, CADEsport had to be abandoned.
VirtuPro Cycling; another possible contender, with an update in October, and another one early November. (This date was totally missed and we are still awaiting the latest update).
Certainly, an improvement on the early release, but the developers are so ingrained into the racing scene, that there is very little for the vast majority of riders to ‘get to grips’ with.
I like VirtuPro Cycling, but think the emphasis on racing is detrimental to the overall game, and it will never become ‘mainstream’ if they continue to specialise in such a small area.
In my search for other cycling games, I came across a couple more games; OneLap and MyWhoosh. Both looked very interesting, so I explored them further.
OneLap; this is a very interesting game, as it is a Chinese copy of Zwift. Originally only launched to the Chinese Domestic Market, it was moved into the world-wide market in 2021.
It has good graphics, a bit repetitive, however, the quality is OK. The big issue, is that there is no comprehensive guide on playing the game.
Some rides are listed as events – and you can only ride them at specific times, which is dictated by the game. So, a particular ride / event, might be schedule to be available from 08:00am – 10:00am – 2-hour slots… however, if you want to ride a different route – you can’t because it won’t be available, until (say) 2:00pm in the afternoon.
There is a Facebook Group – but (a) nobody posts on it and (b) the company / developers / support totally ignores it. However, the game did play successfully on my laptop, and there were no glaring errors.
The price was OK – quite a lot cheaper than Zwift – but there just didn’t seem to be any future in the game.
MyWhoosh; a totally free (to play) game supported by the UAE (United Arab Emirates).
Another game, with stunning graphics, all based around the UAE, plus some Australia Courses and some Columbia Courses. They have, Free Rides, Guided Rides, Group Rides (Events) and Races.
It seems to be well developed game, and one that is being continuously developed.
There is an active Facebook Group, with lots of interaction between Users and the Developers / Support staff.
One interesting idea, is ‘Monthly Races’ – with real money (10,000 dirham – approx £2,000) as prizes per month. All with no entry fee!
I did try and download this game, however, the architecture required, was well beyond my laptop.
Zwift; after having a series of layoffs during the summer, has got back to the core of the game, with new roads, new events, more training plans etc.
It is developing all areas of the game, and trying to give something to everyone.
Overall, there are some good alternatives to Zwift, however, the ones I prefer, such as CADEsport and MyWhoosh, will not run on my laptop. So, I have commissioned a new desktop / gaming machine to run some of the newer cycling games.
We’ll see how they cope on a super-fast computer.