Running speed is quite important for many of todays popular games, and Perl isn't suitable to get the best running times.

Not as much as you'd think. The heaviest processing (graphics) is often done by the OpenGL library or a special language (like Cg), which offloads the work onto the GPU. Any language that can interface with OpenGL will work.

Try loading up a 3D-heavy modern game and keep track of your CPU load. I often see my CPU at 20-50% usage, because all the real work is being done on the GPU.

This will likely be more irrelevent as multi-core CPUs are introduced into the mainstream, since high-level languages often make it easier to take advantage of concurrent processes.