Asia regional champion goes international for GR Supra GT Cup 2020

By Maynard Lumhod

An exciting showdown is set for 18 December when A. Aleef, regional winner of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific’s first e-Motorsports racing championship in Asia, the “GR Supra GT Cup ASIA 2020,” competes with best-in-class e-Motorsports drivers from around the world and vies to take home the “GR Supra GT Cup 2020” crown. The global race will pit 24 players, including top-ranked international e-Motorsports drivers, against one another in an online streaming event that will determine the series champion.

The “GR Supra GT Cup 2020” global final is held in conjunction with the prestigious FIA Gran Turismo Championship 2020 Series World Final. The finalists will compete in the iconic sports car GR Supra in Gran Turismo Sport (PlayStation 4).

Asia’s racing champion Aleef had secured a coveted spot in the “GR Supra GT Cup 2020” global final after beating 14 other national qualifiers from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and India in the 25 October regional competition hosted by Toyota Motor Asia Pacific. The demanding regional final put the drivers to a hard test, but Aleef managed to place first in the first two races, and third in the last race. His final score of 36 points topped that of his closest competitors – Malaysia’s Taj Aiman (33 points) and Thailand’s Sirigaya (25 points), and he took the podium as the first Asian champion of the “GR Supra GT Cup ASIA.”

Given how exhilarating the qualifying rounds have been, with drivers racing up-close and showing off the power, balance and agility of Toyota sports cars, the global final, comprising two rounds of races on challenging and popular race tracks, will no doubt have e-Motorsports fans and avid gamers on the edge of their seats.

In the first round of the global final, the 24 players will race in two groups of 12 each, and on the tracks of Fuji Speedway – Toyota’s home ground and a place where it has won many victories in motorsport history. The top six racers from each of the two groups will qualify for the final round – a race on one of the fastest open-road circuits in the world – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. The 7 km-long circuit consists of 19 turns through the hilly terrain of the Ardennes, where speeds in excess of 330 km/h (205 mph) can be reached. The extremely challenging circuit demands calmness and great skill from drivers, and it is a favored venue for premier international races such as Formula One and the World Endurance Championship.

Regional champion Aleef says: “As the first ‘GR Supra GT Cup ASIA’ champion representing the region in the global final, I want to make all Singaporeans and Asians proud, so I have been practicing hard and honing my racing skills. My experience competing in the many national and regional rounds against other fast and skillful drivers has strengthened my performance. I look forward to bringing my best game and enjoying the global final with e-Motorsports fans and gamers watching the race from around the world.”

The international online stream of the global final will bring e-Motorsports followers from around the world together, to experience real-racing excitement with Toyota. The national and regional rounds in Asia alone, attracted more than 5.4 million views.

E-Motorsports is one of the key pillars of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR), bringing thrill to car lovers in the virtual world. The real-time experiences and learnings from TGR’s motorsport activities are applied to the development of ever-better cars.

For more information about the “GR Supra GT Cup 2020” race format, rounds, circuits, game rules, profiles of the finalists, visuals and videos, please visit GR Supra GT Cup 2020.

GR Supra GT Cup Global Final 2020:

Championship Name	GR Supra GT Cup 2020
Event Date	18 December 2020, 9:00pm SGT
Event Format	One-day competition held online
Click here to watch the global final of the GR Supra GT Cup 2020

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Making the most out of the Huawei Soundjoy

05/24/2023

Portable Bluetooth speakers have become a staple for most. Even if you’re not the type to use one every day, you probably have one lying around somewhere just in case. And there’s no shame in that. A portable Bluetooth speaker has many places in today’s world. You can use it for work, at the gym, on your adventures — anywhere really.

The Huawei SoundJoy is one of many speakers on the market today but this device boasts a Devialet sound system and a couple of other helpful features to help you in your daily routine.

Quick review

First, a quick review. The Huawei SoundJoy is a cylindrical speaker with a fabric exterior and a rubberized bottom. You have a subtle RGB ring light on one end for a little pizzazz and its big physical buttons are hard to miss.

Now this device basically has all the characteristics you’d want for a portable Bluetooth speaker including IP67 dust and water protection, long-lasting battery life (around 2-3 days in the real world), fast charging, portable design, and a few smart features.

The Huawei Soundjoy produces surprisingly high-quality audio and wide projection for its size. The Devialet speaker system built into the Soundjoy feels fully utilized producing loud and detailed audio.

Bassheads will find joy in the low hums and heavy hits and it’s probably the best bass performance from a speaker in this price range. At almost maximum volume, however, you’ll start to hear a bit of distortion.

The preset tuning of this speaker obviously favors the lows which does occasionally drown out the vocals for some songs. Luckily, this is fixable and we’ll get to that later on in this article.

For smart features, the Huawei Soundjoy covers the basics.

Apart from being a Bluetooth speaker, the Soundjoy also comes equipped with microphones so you can use it for calls or conferences as well. It also supports voice assistants and can pick up voice commands for both your phone and the speaker itself. The speaker is also NFC-capable so you can also connect (and even transfer songs) by tapping your phone to the device.

In a Huawei ecosystem, you’ll get access to more features such as Automatic Discovery which automatically pairs the Soundjoy to other Huawei devices on your network.

For its cons, there isn’t much. Obviously, if you don’t like bass-heavy speakers then this isn’t for you as its heaviness is its best quality. If you’re specific with sound quality and tuning, you should know that options are limited and you won’t get access to an equalizer or more advanced tools like that.

And while I really like the ring light on the bottom, the novelty wears out quickly and I wish you had more options for color or movement.

But overall, as your everyday Bluetooth speaker, the Huawei Soundjoy is set up to satisfy. With hardly any complaints (except maybe the lack of cuter colors and limited IOS support), it’s more about how to make the most of your speaker to really get the best value, and here are a few tips.

Customized tuning

As mentioned, out of the box, the Huawei Soundjoy is a bass-heavy speaker that emphasizes drops and hits over vocals and tinier details. And while that is a preference for some, you can easily change that through the app.

Head over to the AI Life app available through the Huawei AppGallery. If you’ve already connected to the speaker, you should see a card for it.

There are two ways to tune your audio in the app. You can first choose a mode. There are three available — Hi-Fi, Vocal, and Devialet Mode.

Hi-Fi offers more balanced tuning where lows aren’t as heavy and pronounced. It offers a more open soundscape that’s able to feature the tinier details. Vocal, most obviously, prioritizes voice clarity. This is best used when listening to podcasts or when on a call as it does tone down the overall fullness the speaker is capable of.

Finally, we have Devialet mode which is actually the default setting and the most bass-heavy of all the modes. But I personally think it’s the best for showcasing the capabilities of this speaker.

Below the sound modes is a small virtual knob for bass adjustment. Here you can fine-tune how much more or less bass you want. Our Soundjoy is usually set on Devialet mode with +2dB bass and it works across different genres so far.

Daisy chain for bigger sound

The Huawei SoundJoy is a loud little speaker that can get even louder with a little help from friends.

If you have another Soundjoy on hand, you can link them up for bigger stereo sound. And Huawei made it fun to do, too. Simply shaking both devices at the same time will prompt them to link up.

But if you really want BIG sound, you can keep the chain going up to 100 speakers. What that sounds like I’ve yet to experience but I’m pretty sure it would be fun.

Helpful little features

Most portable Bluetooth speakers are pretty simple and the Huawei Soundjoy is no exception. But it does offer a few helpful features.

An underappreciated feature for me is the ability to program the speaker to shut down after a few minutes of inactivity. Done through the app, you can access the schedule off time feature and choose from the preset times.

And did you know that the ring light is actually an indicator?

Different colors and breathing patterns dictate what’s happening with the speaker. For example, when you see a spinning, blinking white light, a One-Hop transfer is in process. Or when you see the light turn yellow, it means your battery level is less than 10%.

There’s also a low-power consumption mode that works to preserve battery when you’re running low.

To activate this, simply hold down the voice button (it has a microphone icon on it) for five seconds. You can exit anytime by pressing any of the buttons.

Final thoughts

Again, there’s little to complain about with the Huawei Soundjoy. I’ve personally been using it as an external speaker for my PC since it sounds a whole lot better than my monitor speakers. I can keep it plugged in, too, so it’s always charged and ready to go if ever I need to leave the house with it too.

I find it also has a more refined design compared to others in its price range without looking too boring. You’ve got great sound courtesy of Devialet and long-lasting battery life so you won’t be left soundtrack-less on your adventures.