I think some people on the Fighting games discord might be able to help more.
https://discord.com/invite/xhhfbHV
Normally I would reccomend normal hardware but apparently the European version of this game has several issues.
Message me privately if there is still a problem running the game.
This is a common problem with this game with all sort of emulators, i wonder if it happens on a PS3 too i don't have the CD. I still did not find a solution to this day, EU version does not work for me.
https://github.com/stenzek/duckstation/discussions/1651 https://www.reddit.com/r/epsxe/comments/fdwcrz/any_advice_on_how_to_fix_the_speed_on_a_certain/
Thank you for the link. Unfortunately there is no perfect solution, and more recently I found out the PS2 has a fast disk reader mode, and the PS3 is slightly faster than that.
Usually this impacts the loading screens only for games. It also affects all games differently.
Luckily in this case, Battle Arena Toshinden uses IGT.
