With the third beta of watchOS 9.2 that was provided to developers on Tuesday, Apple has added the new Race Route feature to the Workout app.
Designed especially for runners and cyclists, Race Route lets you compete against yourself on a route you've already completed and tracked as an outdoor run or cycle on Apple Watch.
You can race against your best or last result on any frequently completed outdoor running routes, and the feature also offers in-session pacing guidance to keep your progress competitive.
Coming later this year, Race Route is compatible with Apple Watch Series 4 and later models. The upcoming release of watchOS 9.2 is also likely to include Track Detection, which automatically detects when you arrive at a running track, and combines Apple Maps data with GPS to provide a more accurate route map and more accurate pace and distance metrics.
watchOS 9.2 also introduces support for a new Home app architecture that has also been added to iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, and macOS Ventura.
Top Rated Comments
If you do many laps, the errors will add up resulting in not so accurate distance and pacing information.
Apple's track feature will recognise that you are on a track, and will let you set on which lane you are to be able to provide more accurate data. I believe it's quite similar to the way a car GPS always shows you on the road even if the GPS data it gets actually detects you on the side of the road
I'm not much of a runner or cyclist, but I do go for walks, and have a few routes (most of them up hills or even over mountains) where I definitively compete with myself, and track times to gauge my form.