It doesn't make a difference if you press play or record, you should still get the same result.
If your Yamaha & Triton both function as expected setting up this way then that suggests the problem lies within the Virus, what happens if you have the Virus MIDI sync set to external rather than auto?
I don't have any latency issues to speak of but if you are worried about latency creeping in as you use more & more gear, there is an excellent video over at MacProVideo called
Logics Latency Toolbox which will really tighten things up for you.