It'll get better when they introduce the independant suspensions with one of the new patches so your tank wont teater over small bumps.
I hate railroad tracks with a passion. That and little tractors that you can't run over. The little tractors sprinkled throughout maps has stopped me and other tanks more than half a dozen times.
I don't honestly think you need armor for gun depression. Gun depression allows you to fire from positions which were previously worthless to your tank, and being able to get shots off where you couldn't before will always result in a net increase in damage dealt. Sure you won't bounce, but its still a smaller siloutte to shoot at overall.
But yeah, I don't think the leopards are better than the soviet tanks either.