It's possible to win a Tournament starting late, but it does put extra pressure on you, depending on your starting stack and how big the blinds are.
I once joined a game when I only had 10 BB to start from and did make the money, but it was all-in or fold every hand until I started to amass a decent amount of chips, but even then it was just too big a mountain to climb.
If I am not able to start a game from the first hand, then generally I try to avoid buying in late, but sometimes it's unavoidable. One game I won a ticket to and was automatically entered into, started at 8.00 pm. but with work commitments and travelling home afterwards, I was late starting and had to sit out for the first 90 minutes, needless to say it didn't go too well.
But Hey! Ho! that's how it goes,
When the fun Stops, STOP!