Virtual Race by Field General Reviews

I just completed the Run Across America 5k and while I support the cause, using VirtualRace definitely took some patience. VirtualRace is very glitchy and “Refreshes” back to the home page every 20 seconds. Because of this, it took me about 7 tries to actually initiate my run through VirtualRace . Also, I mapped my run using google maps and an Apple Watch, but had to run an extra half mile for the app to say I completed the race. Not a big deal, but perhaps the biggest issue was that once I completed my run, VirtualRace couldn’t decide if I was done or not. One minute it would give me the completion screen with confetti and the next minute it would “Refresh” and say I was still running the race and in a completely different location. After opening and closing out VirtualRace several times, it finally refreshed to say completed, but added a solid 30 minutes to my original time. Hoping others don’t run into the same issues!

This is awful. I downloaded VirtualRace and followed all the instructions, ran the 5k race, had all the congratulations from VirtualRace , and a great time for the race. Took a selfie and saved it. Put my phone away thinking that wasn’t too bad. An hour and a half later i pulled out my phone and got another congratulations on completing the race... but for a time that was three times slower than what I actually did. My original time seems to be gone for good. At least I have my Strava record, but nothing like coming in last in the race when you really did pretty well.

I tried to find a way to contact someone but apparently writing a negative review is all there is.

I’m very disappointed. I signed up for the run America and used VirtualRace to record my race. I opened VirtualRace in the morning to make sure it was ready. Then when we were ready to race I opened to get going but it kept spinning spinning spinning. I finally was able to get it to open by opening VirtualRace from VirtualRace Store, waiting for it to fail and say to check for internet connection, then I tapped in the menu and selected races. It seemed to record the race okay and I got a selfie when we finished. I opened VirtualRace again now and it’s still recording my time! I finished about 37 minutes, but when I open now( same steps as above to get it to load) it says over one hour for my race! I’m trying to load the pictures but it spins and spins. I should have just used my Fitbit and ignored VirtualRace entirely.

I started my virtual race earlier today. There was a warning that location services may not be entirely accurate, but I assumed this meant it might cause me to need to run an extra few tenths of a kilometer. After 10 minutes, I had only been credit for about .7 kilometers (roughly 70-minute pace when I typically run 5K in just over 20 minutes). The GPS froze multiple times for several seconds, and each time it came back, I had distance taken away. If possible, I’ll just run a 5K on my treadmill later and input my time manually, but that does kind of defeat the purpose.

I downloaded this for a race and made sure I had all the updates. But when I went to use it, it took forever to load and I had to restart it multiple times before it would allow me to start the race. And, when I was running it did not log my distance properly, and actually undercounted my distance by 1/3 mile. This is a huge inconsistency and can have a big impact on pace recording. If this wasn’t the only way to measure my race progress I would not have used VirtualRace . If any race in the future uses VirtualRace, I would recommend everyone think twice before signing up.

It’s race day and VirtualRace is basically completely unusable. I’ve tried to open VirtualRace at least a dozen times. I’ve restarted my phone. Might have to try uninstalling VirtualRace and reinstalling. Every time I open it I get a “Race Loading” message. VirtualRace is stuck there or displays “There was an error...” I’m connected to my home wifi, so there shouldn’t be a problem with the network connection. Now, I’m nervous that I won’t be able to participate in the event at all. At least my registration fee went to charity...

I recorded a run today and it all went mostly okay when I was running. VirtualRace definitely said I had reached a 5k a few blocks early but it was okay. I got the congratulations screen with my time and everything. A few hours later I got back on VirtualRace was still recording 3 and a half hours later. So my time is way off and I don’t even know if it actually even worked. There’s been a new update basically every day and it still doesn’t work.

I made sure I had the updated version but it totally messed up my time. I finished my 5k and took my race selfie but it just kept trying to save the picture and after 20 minutes I finally closed VirtualRace to try again only to find out that it hadn’t stopped the timer so my time is now showing as 20 minutes more than actual and my selfie never saved. This was my first virtual 5k and I was so excited but this honestly ruined the experience for me!

Signed up for the race and downloaded VirtualRace . All seemed good at that point. Today was my race and it didn’t record my mileage at all, still showed 0k when my watch told me I hit 5k. Couldn’t stop or pause the timer to try to enter anything manually so I ended up deleting and downloading VirtualRace again. Now it won’t let me log in and when I try to do a set up it says there is already an account with the same email/phone number. I’ve been trying to figure it out for almost an hour now and I’m done.

First off, even to get VirtualRace to load this morning took multiple attempts over about 45 minutes. When it finally did load, it didn’t record my run! I followed all the directions including enabling location services. I’m very disappointed, and just wish I had used map my run and manually entered my time.

Edit: App still not working the next day despite an announcement by the race organizers that issues have been fixed...

So many glitches. So bad

Does it work?
Race opened at 12am. It’s 8:30am EST and my friends app says she still has 5 hours before the race starts. She restarted her phone and it didn’t change.

Is it accurate ?

It doesn’t update distance often and when you try to update it takes minutes to load and even then goes back and forth between last measured distance and current distance.

I tracked my distance on two other maps. By the time I finished the 3.1 miles in VirtualRace I had actually ran 3.3. Also the map was showing that I ran through the Hudson River.

If you can’t start the running app and it can’t measure your distance accurately, it doesn’t accomplish the TWO MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES.

I want my money back ($30) from race for America.

It’s a great concept, but VirtualRace had a LOT of issues. It didn’t start recording my distance until I had finished my race entirely. Attempting to enter a time manually only gave me error messages. I used to app to run a virtual race on a team with some of my coworkers, and most of them had a lot of issues too, such as the timer running backwards or randomly restarting. I’m pretty disappointed because I was really excited for this race.

At first I was impressed with VirtualRace . Started race well and called out every Km so you could hear progress. Hit the end of my 5km (which was the race length) and it didn’t stop my time until I actually acknowledged the finish (which was 8 minutes later after cool down). Who doesn’t stop the clock at the “finish line”.

Leaderboard performance also so slow I stopped waiting for it to load.

Used this for the first time today for the Race Across America and while running - VirtualRace was great! Updated me on distance, the map was accurate, etc.

Unfortunately, when I finished the race, which is the most important point of VirtualRace and race, VirtualRace crashed and I still cannot get back into it to see my time, the leaderboard, or even confirm that my race info and finishing time was tracked and reported/recorded.

Disappointing!

VirtualRace simply doesn’t work. It doesn’t track properly. I had to run over 9k in order to achieve the 5k for the race. The distance kept going back and forth and just stood still at times. Especially when I ran back the same route where I had come from.
I run this route all the time and never had a problem with the GPS coverage. Very disappointing.