Do you have by chance instructions on how you put sierra in a VM? Which VM product do you use and how is the performance (especially GUI responsiveness)?
I use Parallels. I honestly don't remember how I set it up initially (I still used Sierra on the host when I originally set it up, for a different reason, relating to the terrible setup process of that same software being unreliable, and not wanting to repeat it whenever I reinstalled my host OS).
I just did a quick test - if you make a bootable macOS USB installer (instructions here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372) and then use the 'New VM' wizard in Parallels, it detects the USB drive as an installer source. It may also detect a downloaded installer App too, but I don't have one (that isn't on a bootable USB drive).
Performance is not like native, obviously, but it's workable enough for utility programs. VMWare Fusion has an option to prefer an eGPU, so that may give better results than e.g. the Intel graphics if you're on a Mac mini (and have an eGPU). But I don't know specifically how Fusion does with macOS guests. I only have it so I can build Vagrant boxes that support VMware, I don't actually use it for anything else.
I just did a quick test - if you make a bootable macOS USB installer (instructions here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372) and then use the 'New VM' wizard in Parallels, it detects the USB drive as an installer source. It may also detect a downloaded installer App too, but I don't have one (that isn't on a bootable USB drive).
Performance is not like native, obviously, but it's workable enough for utility programs. VMWare Fusion has an option to prefer an eGPU, so that may give better results than e.g. the Intel graphics if you're on a Mac mini (and have an eGPU). But I don't know specifically how Fusion does with macOS guests. I only have it so I can build Vagrant boxes that support VMware, I don't actually use it for anything else.