This is often a common topic that comes up so here's some of the basics:

PS2 has faster planet loads than PS3 but all other loads are faster on PS3. Spanish is the fastest language for English releases become Holostar is just below 4 seconds faster than English after beating Terror of Talos (although Draco would lose around 0.4 seconds to English). Italian could maybe be faster for the PAL version but it has not been throughly tested. NTSC is faster than PAL on PS2 only (PS3 is the same for both granted that you're playing in HD)

Here's the list of versions:

PS2 NTSC- Decent version for most people in the US since it's optimal and accessible. Label Color doesn't matter (NTSC being the American version). This was originally considered to be the most optimal version until recently.

NTSC-J- It's hard to calculate how much time Japanese loses but it would probably be somewhere inbetween 10-30 seconds. The first cutscene in Holostar is 2 seconds longer which messes with a cycle which loses a couple more seconds (IDK how much it would lose if going for Skrunchless but these combined factors would lose around 4 seconds without Skrunchless) and you also lose 2.3 seconds after killing Courtney compared to Spanish since the dialogue is longer. The third person camera is also slower in the Japanese version which also loses time although I'm not sure how much it would lose in NG+ or any other category. NTSC-J Korea: saves around 1 second compared to Spanish since Holostar saves 0.5 seconds and Draco saves 0.6-0.7 seconds which makes it the fastest version. Korean also plays like the NTSC-U version with the correct camera speed and with the Japanese costumes as an extra bonus (costumes don't affect the run). This is the hardest version to obtain though and it only saves just over 1 second to our current knowledge so NTSC-U is fine. The only difference that will mainly affect ATB is that there is a platform in command center with an antenna without you cannot stand on in either NTSC-J versions. You also cannot stand on the lights on Daxx. You can stand on this platform in the NTSC-J PS3 versions. In all NTSC-J versions, you can use X and O in the menus which can save a small amount of time throughout runs. The Korean PS3 version is the exact same as the PAL version.

PS3- The downside to PS3 is that planet loads are longer and clipping is more precise. All clips are still optimal on PS3 just more difficult. PS3 also suffers from a higher amount of slowdown but weapon lag is almost non existent on PS3 which is a plus. You also cannot quit out of missions so you have to death abuse to go back to the menu in places like Marcadia and Black Water but this usually isn't a big deal. However, Cutscenes load faster on DL and can maybe be skipped faster and the main gameplay/next screen will load faster. V-comics at least on download load faster than on PS2 and PS3 has Qwark warp in Florana which saves 20 seconds in NG+ and more in any%. A weird note about Qwark warp is that it only seems to work when playing the game in Spanish or German. It was long thought that PS3 was slower for the longest time as disc would lose around 4 mins in NG+ very roughly and download on a HDD loses roughly 90 seconds. HOWEVER, it was recently discovered that playing on a SSD was way faster than using a HDD to the point where PS3 SSD is around 30-45 seconds faster than PS2 (an exact time is impossible to calculate due to UYA’s inconsistent and variable loads) which obviously makes this the fastest official version to run on. This is great for European runners as you no longer have to pay for a method to play NTSC PS2 games. As a sidenote, it does not matter whether you are playing the PAL or NTSC versions as long as you are playing in HD. If you are playing in SD on a PAL console, you will face the many disadvantages of playing PAL so make sure that if you have a PAL console, you can play the game in HD. As another sidenote, playing the Japanese version on a disc on a PAL PS3 in SD is the absolute slowest way you can run UYA so yea. OpieOP. PAL is negligibly faster as you can play in German which saves 0.2 seconds over Spanish.

PS2 PAL- Charge Boots are super slow making the game slower overall and a lot of tricks more difficult. You also don't jump as high and everything is overall slower. Almost all major skips are still possible on PAL but some like VR skip and Qwark's Hideout skip are super difficult. PAL would lose multiple minutes in NG+ over NTSC. This version is not recommended since it is much slower, a lot harder and it's not fun.

Backwards compatible PS3- The loads are actually faster on BC PS3 as some planets can load with 2 ship cutscenes instead of 3 saving around 1-5 seconds per planet load (except Draco which can do this anyway on PS2). Other loads are also faster than PS2 although they are slower than PS3. However, there are two main types of BC PS3s: Hardware BC PS3s and software BC PS3s. On software BC PS3s (which are more common and affordable), there are insane amounts of lag making this the slowest version especially the PAL version. There may also be random crashes/soft and hard-locks in some areas making this method of running the game literally unplayable. The immense lag only exists with these later backwards compatible models since they use emulation which is banned for RAC games so this can pretty much be ignored. The earlier 40GB and 60GB NTSC consoles (CECHA01 models) use PS2 hardware and are the fastest version for this game since it runs the game correctly and has the faster loads. The loads aren't as quick as the CECHC/E models but you can still potentially save 5 seconds on some planets and this isn't even a worry as the game (as I said earlier) is unplayable on CECHC/E consoles. (only a small fraction of NTSC PS3s are CECHA01 models however and every model with hardware emulation is banned). While BC PS3 is technically the fastest, it has plenty of downsides. CECHA01 BC PS3s can be hard and expensive to obtain (especially if you live outside the US) and they can break easily which are the main reasons why they are separated on the boards. Another disadvantage of BCPS3 is that it suffers from 3more frames of input lag compared to PS3 which is inconvinient to say the least.

Currently, PS3 download with a SSD is the most optimal version to run on. A Korean PS3 copy is not anymore optimal as it’s the same as the PAL version so don’t waste your time and money on getting a Korean account and the game (unless you live in Korea of course). A Japanese PS3 copy is the least optimal in terms of PS3 so avoid that if you live outside of Japan. NTSC/Korean PS2 is a good way to learn the game if you don’t have a PS3 with an SSD but if you want to go for the best time, you will have to convert to PS3 at some point. CECHA01 BC PS3s are the fastest (with the Korean version being played on a Japanese console being the absolute fastest) but they are expensive and rare so almost nobody runs on one and the boards are separate anyway so this isn't a major issue currently.