How did GTA Vice City cheats work?

GTA Vice City cheats were typed strings on PC and button sequences on PlayStation 2, entered during normal play with no menu. Rockstar released the game on PS2 in October 2002 and on Windows in May 2003, according to Wikipedia's release history, and the cheat system followed the platform: keyboard words on one, controller patterns on the other.

None of these codes has anything to do with GTA VI. The only link is the place. Rockstar's own GTA VI page opens with "Vice City, USA.", and PlayStation's product page describes the state of Leonida. Rockstar has published nothing about cheats in GTA VI, and VI Cheats has verified no GTA VI code. Our GTA 6 cheats hub tracks that status.

How do you enter Vice City cheats on PC?

On PC you type the word while the game is running. PCGamesN's cheat guide (published November 12, 2021) puts it this way: type the code "exactly as shown" while the game is unpaused.

We checked four PC codes character by character against two pages we fetched on September 29, 2026: that PCGamesN guide and the Vice City PC cheat list on gta.cz. Both pages print all four identically. All four are Vice City (PC) codes:

  • ASPIRINE - full health in Vice City.
  • PRECIOUSPROTECTION - full armor in Vice City.
  • LEAVEMEALONE - clears the Vice City wanted level.
  • PANZER - spawns a tank in Vice City.

The gta.cz list also carries a second tank word and notes it may not work on every version. We left that one out because only one of our sources printed it.

What were the Vice City PS2 cheat codes?

On PlayStation 2 you pressed a fixed pattern of shoulder buttons, face buttons and the d-pad during play. GTA Base, whose guide covers every PlayStation version of Vice City, says you can enter them during general gameplay or in the pause menu. The PS2 cheat page at The GTA Place simply says to enter them while in-game.

Two PS2 sequences matched exactly across those two pages:

  • Vice City full health (PS2): R1, R2, L1, Circle, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up
  • Vice City Rhino tank spawn (PS2): Circle, Circle, L1, Circle, Circle, Circle, L1, L2, R1, Triangle, Circle, Triangle

Look at the health sequence next to the Vice City armor code on the same pages. They differ in one press: the fourth button, Circle for health and X for armor. Swap that one press and you get armor instead of health. GTA Base adds that the health code also repairs the vehicle you are driving. We found that detail in only one source, so treat it as that site's claim.

Did Vice City cheats affect saving or completion?

The sources warn you, but they do not agree on how hard. The gta.cz PC page says that if you use some cheats and then save, you will never reach a fully finished game. The GTA Place tells PS2 players it is recommended not to save with cheats on. GTA Base gives a more practical reason to save first: some Vice City cheats can be switched off by entering them again, but others, such as the pedestrian riot cheat, cannot, and you need to load an earlier save to get rid of them.

We could not find Rockstar's own wording on how the 2002 game handled cheats and saves. So we are not printing a firm rule, beyond the advice all three pages point to: keep a clean save before you experiment.

Is there a money cheat in GTA Vice City?

No. GTA Base states plainly that Vice City has no money cheat code, unlike GTA III and San Andreas, where a code gave you $250,000. Neither of the two PC lists we fetched includes a money code either. GTA Base's advice is to earn it the old way, through missions.

GTA Base says no such code exists, so treat any Vice City money code you find elsewhere with suspicion. The same goes for newer games: our guide on the GTA 6 money cheat covers what can and cannot be verified there.

What did the Definitive Edition change for cheats?

Rockstar brought Vice City back in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition. Xbox Wire announced on October 22, 2021 that it would launch digitally on November 11, 2021, alongside GTA III and San Andreas.

Two sourced changes matter for cheats. First, GTA Base says the PS4 and PS5 versions support Trophies, and using cheats there permanently disables Trophies on the current save file. Second, PCGamesN noted at launch that a few cheat codes did not make it into the remaster "due to technical limitations". It did not name them, and we will not guess.

Do Vice City cheats work in GTA VI?

Nothing links these codes to GTA VI. Rockstar has not announced any cheat system for the new game, any entry method, or any carry-over from older titles. GTA VI is set for November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only, per Rockstar's Newswire post of November 6, 2025. Rockstar has never announced a PC version of GTA VI.

If you want the full history of how cheats evolved after this game, read our San Andreas cheats history, which picks up where Vice City left off.

VI Cheats is an independent site. It is not affiliated with Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, Sony or Microsoft. Game names are used only to identify the games.

Are the Vice City PC and PS2 codes the same cheats?

Several effects, such as full health and a tank, exist on both. PC uses typed words, and PS2 uses button patterns. We printed only the codes that matched across two sources.

Can you still use GTA Vice City cheats in the Definitive Edition?

GTA Base's guide lists cheats for the PlayStation versions, including PS4 and PS5. It also warns that using them on those versions disables Trophies for that save.

Why do so many sites list different Vice City codes?

The lists we fetched do not include the same codes. One of our two PC sources listed a code the other did not, so we left it out. We print a code only when two sources match.

Will GTA VI have cheats like Vice City?

Nobody outside Rockstar knows. Rockstar has published nothing about GTA VI cheats as of September 29, 2026.