it's not like the sherman wasn't there to be the meat shield for the Jackon's nimble glass cannon. You're going to add 160 hp to something.
late 1944-1945 sherman is different from the "tommy cooker" used in the african compaign. The US did improved on the model in the two years.
Even without going into the E8 model the US added wet storage, improved frontal armor, cupola, gun shield.
The US was also the only nation in ww2 whose tanker worn protective helmet as standard. Beret might look nicer but helmet save life.
I mean if we are talking historically the Sherman was, unlike common thought, not a bad tank. It was a serviceable cheap tank that could hold its own into the late war. Ya, of course, we know the early designs were known to burn up but the US definitely took strides to solve that issue. If I'm not mistaken the Sherman was also relatively comfortable to be a crew member in due to a less cluttered interior.