Some emulators (like EPSXE) let you set a frameskip, so you can render at one speed but still play the game at full speed. There might be a similar option in PCSX2?
I'll give that a shot. I think I tried an option like that, but it just made things super-choppy (and still somewhat slomo). My system's somewhat underpowered anyways, so I'm not too surprised or upset by the issues emulating.