Wing size got to do a lot with it. It 'lifts' the aircraft, a too small a wing is not going to cut it. Especially if the aircraft 'A' has more fuel, engine power (= heavier powerplant) and firepower aboard than the aircraft 'B'.
The big fuselages of the F4U and F6F were rather empty behind the pilot, when compared with P-47.
The USN aircraft have had indeed bigger wings, partly to improve low speed handling; their wings were either thicker (F4U) or significantly bigger and outfitted with better flaps (F6F) than P-47, again because of low speed handling. Had they sported as much of protected fuel and as much firepower as the P-47, they would either had to have even bigger wings, or to sacrifice a bit of low speed handling. They would suffer in performance either way.
We may recall that F8F came about when USN decided, in 1944, that they can go with 185 gals (half of what P-47 carried in 1944) and 4 BMGS (again just half of what P-47 carried), so the aircraft can be smaller, so the single stage (but improved, C series) R-2800 can provide enough performance on low and medium altitudes.
USAF, on the other hand, in 1940 wanted a interceptor fighter with heavy firepower (= 8 BMGs) and great performance above 20000 ft, and even above 30000 ft (= R-2800 with turbo). That was provided by P-47.