So are consoles holding back this game?

[Gilraen]

Sony still refurbs the original BC PS3s? Do you get the system you send them back, or a replacement?

Uh... it's been years so I'm not sure. I do know that it's still an original 60g and that's what counts for me. Mind, it's always a good idea to back-up your data to an external before doing any kind of send-in. Just in case.

This is loads of it. By this logic PC exclusive game with much better texture and same amount of load time must be performing magic on HHD. Console is worse at performance compared to PC is no news, if SE insist on keeping one version then console is very much holding PC back. (Visually, at least. One aspect I really wish they would improve upon.)

You never upgraded your hard drive? I've done SSD and hybrid (the SSD crapped out on me) in my PS3 and the difference in load times for installed games is like night and day. So yes, a better hard drive is magic. Hell, I was so impressed with the performance that I put a hybrid drive in my PS4!