Originally Posted by
zacster
As already said, the apps provide the smarts that control the trainer. But the other factor is time. Without the apps you enter a time warp where each minute gets stretched out to an eternity from falling into the black hole. The apps can control that by displaying something on a screen that is meaningful to look at, and that brings time back closer to reality. It may still be stretched by a gravitational wave, but at least it advances.
This is so true. A question that is perhaps not asked enough is what will it take to keep oneself motivated to ride the thing. For me, I am much more motivated to ride in a virtual world in a game environment (and no, I’m also not very social in Zwift)