As important as chord changes are, I have found my fingers are either non responsive or slow at times which of a buzz kill. So learning as song becomes a pain. How many hours does one need to practice to start speeding up? Does the speed come ones you've master playing slowly?
Chord changes
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In general terms, yes, chord changes in the beginning can be tricky and feel slow. My view is it is because you visually try place each finger on the string it is meant to be on. Practise should speed things up. The more you practise it, the better your finger placement starts to work, and your fingers will work in tandem rather than doing their own thing. Muscle memory is a grand ol thing. I like to choose songs with easy major chords that have a naturally slow tempo to get going. Equally important is your strumming hand. Choose a tempo that os challenging yet achievable for you.. let you strumming hand just keep going, then let your fretting hand chase. Enjoy and good luck.
Once you are comfortable with the chords, choose different ones and switch songs.. etc.
A good song with a nice slow pace, Hurt. The Johnny Cash version
How long before it comes together? Eh.. difficult to say. Depends on how and how long you practise for.. i find chosing tunes you like make it more rewarding to practise.
Back in the day, i would always recommend Polly wants a cracker by Nirvana. These days, there are so many other tunes out there to choose from
Ironically,I can play linger from the Cranberries,not flawlessly, but it just suddenly came together. I have retaken up Hurt by Johnny Cash and it’s going at least. And even though Barracuda and Thunderstruck are easy riffs,I can’t speed up
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Starting with a example of the two flavours of open G chords - which one is easier to use?
You'd think the second one? Only three fingers and no pesky little finger to figure out? But if you needed to play D after the g chords, then the first G would have your left hand's ring finger right where it needs to be to easily move the other fingers around the ring finger (which stays in position as an anchor). This is one of many, many, many little shortcuts you'll be learning over the years.
When I show beginners things, I like to stress that a chords is two or more notes - you don't always have to play all the notes depicted (depending on genre and effect you are going for). I usually only play two or three of the notes of a open A - which I barre with the index finger. Unless I need the high e string ringing out - then I play it 'properly'
When I have focussed practice - it's in blocks of 5-15mins. I might do one or five in a day (or none 
). It depends on how I'm feeling - I rarely grind through for hours anymore. I used to, but I think - for me- practicing is best done in short, focused bursts.
Lastly... I've found learning guitar in particular to be a step, plateau, step experience. That is, you grind away walking the plateau and feel like there's been little progress...but months down the line, you go up a step - all of a sudden you can do it. You'd think it would be linear! But no, it doesn't seem to be.