Ground pressure is ultimately dictated by the contact area, ie. track dimensions. The “big cats” simply had long and wide ones. The interleaved and overlapping suspension AFAIK had little relevance to THAT, rather – if I’ve understood correctly – it spread the vehicle’s weight more evenly on the *tracks* which apparently gave a relatively smooth ride over bumps.
More practically it made for less wear for each roadwheel, which was kind of a good thing as Germany was mostly stuck with synthetic rubber for their coating which apparently had endurance issues.

Also I don’t think you know what the “edge effect” is; neither did period tank designers understand it properly, fair enough, but even superficial familiarity with structural engineering would seem to suggest making holes in something at the very least isn’t going to *strenghten* it.
Which is one reason why modern tanks’ glacis plates are as smooth and unbroken as the designers can make them.

Also fuck ergonomics, I’m willing to bet 5€ the main practical reason for the stepped nose was simply to fit in the transmission unit at the front of the tank. Didn’t hurt that it kind of intuitively follows the shape of a seated man, which is presumably why the same kept turning up in several rear-driven British and Soviet tanks.

May I also ask you to not try bringing irrelevant not to mention flat-out *false* this-versus-that comparisions to the discussion? Thanks.