Grand Theft Auto V on PC has the most convenient cheat system of any version, because alongside the phone-dialling method it gives you a text console. Press the tilde key, type a word, hit Enter, and Los Santos bends. Every code below is Story Mode only and has to be re-entered after you reload.
Here is the complete practical rundown of cheat codes for GTA 5 in PC form, how the two input methods differ, and what each cheat actually changes.
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| Game | Platform | Genre | Why It’s Great | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto V | PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S | Open-world action | Sprawling satirical Los Santos plus the deepest cheat list Rockstar has ever shipped | 10/10 |
| Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | PC, mobile, consoles | Open-world action-RPG | Legendary cheat culture, from jetpacks to pedestrian riots, across three cities | 10/10 |
| Grand Theft Auto IV | PC, Xbox 360, PS3 | Open-world action | Phone-based cheats debuted here alongside the series’ best physics engine | 9/10 |
| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | PC, mobile, consoles | Open-world action | 1980s pastiche, tight mission design and a soundtrack people still buy the game for | 9/10 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | PC, PS4, Xbox One | Open-world western | Cheats unlocked by finding newspapers, an elegant twist on the formula | 10/10 |
| Saints Row IV | PC, consoles | Open-world action | Superpowers make the whole game feel like a permanently enabled cheat code | 8/10 |
| Sleeping Dogs | PC, consoles | Open-world action | Best hand-to-hand combat in the genre and a beautifully realised Hong Kong | 8/10 |
| Mafia: Definitive Edition | PC, PS4, Xbox One | Open-world action | A slower, story-first alternative when you want restraint instead of chaos | 8/10 |
Two ways to enter cheat codes for GTA 5 in PC versions
The console method is the fastest. Press the tilde key (directly above Tab on a US layout) while in Story Mode, and a small text field appears at the top of the screen. Type the cheat word in any case, press Enter, and the effect fires immediately.
The phone method is identical to console versions. Open the in-game mobile, select the keypad, dial the number, and press call. The advantage is that dialled numbers sit in your recent-calls list, so repeat activations take one click instead of retyping.
If the tilde key does nothing, the usual culprits are a non-US keyboard layout mapping that position to a different character, or an overlay capturing the keypress. Remapping is trivial on hardware with onboard profiles, which is one of the practical arguments made in any decent mechanical gaming keyboard buying guide.
Survivability cheat codes for GTA 5 in PC play
PAINKILLER (1-999-724-654-5537) grants invincibility, but only for five minutes. Watch the clock; players die constantly because they assume it is permanent.
POWERUP (1-999-7692-478) refills health and armour instantly. It is the code you will use most, because unlike invincibility it has no timer to track.
TOOLUP (1-999-8665-87) hands you the full weapon roster with ammunition. Combine it with HIGHEX (1-999-444-439) for explosive rounds, or INCENDIARY (1-999-462-363-4279) for flaming rounds. Ammunition-type cheats overwrite each other rather than stacking, so if bullets are not behaving as expected, re-enter the specific code you want active.
Movement and physics cheats
CATCHME (1-999-228-8463) gives you a dramatically faster sprint. HOPTOIT (1-999-467-8648) grants a super jump that will happily launch you off a skyscraper. FLOATER (1-999-356-2837) applies moon gravity to vehicles, which is the single funniest cheat in the game when combined with a highway full of traffic.
SLOWMO (1-999-756-966) slows the world; entering it up to three times deepens the effect, and a fourth entry cancels it. DEADEYE (1-999-332-3393) is the aim-specific version, layering up through three levels the same way. SKYFALL (1-999-759-3255) drops you from the sky in freefall, and SKYDIVE (1-999-759-3483) gives you the parachute you will urgently need.
LIQUOR (1-999-547-861) enables drunk mode, and SNOWDAY (1-999-766-9329) makes every vehicle handle as though the roads are iced over. Both are chaos generators rather than tools.
Vehicle spawn codes worth memorising
Spawn cheats need open ground; the game silently refuses if there is no room. The essentials are COMET (1-999-266-38) for the Comet sports car, RAPIDGT (1-999-727-4348) for the Rapid GT, ROCKET (1-999-762-538) for the PCJ-600 motorcycle, BANDIT (1-999-226-348) for a BMX, OFFROAD (1-999-633-7623) for the Sanchez dirt bike, TRASHED (1-999-872-7433) for the Trashmaster, HOLEIN1 (1-999-4653-461) for a golf Caddy, and VINEWOOD (1-999-846-39663) for a stretch limousine.
For aircraft, BUZZOFF (1-999-289-9633) spawns the Buzzard Attack Chopper, BARNSTORM (1-999-2276-78676) spawns the Stunt Plane, and FLYSPRAY (1-999-359-77729) spawns the Duster crop-duster. On the enhanced editions, DEATHCAR (1-999-3328-4227) delivers the armoured Duke O’Death.
Fast, tight flying and driving is where input hardware starts to matter. A high-DPI mouse helps with aircraft camera work, and the fundamentals in a gaming mouse buying guide apply directly. Some players prefer a pad for helicopters entirely, which a PC game controller buying guide covers in detail.
World and utility cheats
MAKEITRAIN (1-999-625-348-7246) cycles the weather through sun, clearing, clouds, smog, overcast, rain, thunder, clear and snow. It is the fastest way to set up screenshots. FUGITIVE (1-999-3844-8483) raises your wanted level, while LAWYERUP (1-999-5299-3787) lowers it, making the pair useful for testing police AI behaviour.
What cheat codes for GTA 5 in PC builds cannot do
Three hard limits. Cheats never work in GTA Online, and attempting to force them there through third-party tools is a bannable modding offence. Cheats never save; every effect ends when you reload or relaunch. And cheats disable Achievements for the session, though not permanently, so finish completion runs first.
There is also no money cheat. Rockstar deliberately never shipped one in GTA V, so any site promising a cash code is selling you a lie or a malware download. Stick to the console.
Performance notes for heavy cheat sessions
Cheats create workloads the game was never balanced for: dozens of explosions, a highway of moon-gravity traffic, a police fleet chasing a stunt plane. Frame times suffer first. If you see stutter rather than a low average frame rate, it is usually a memory or storage bottleneck rather than raw GPU power, and the diagnostics in an NVMe SSD buying guide are more useful than lowering shadow quality. Where the average frame rate itself is the problem at 1440p or above, a graphics card buying guide is the honest answer. And since explosion-heavy cheat sessions are also punishingly loud, a gaming headset buying guide is worth a look before you spend an evening detonating traffic.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I open the console to type cheat codes for GTA 5 in PC?
Press the tilde key above Tab while in Story Mode and a text box appears at the top of the screen. On non-US keyboard layouts that physical key may produce a different character, so try the key in that position, or use the in-game phone keypad instead.
Is there a money cheat in GTA 5?
No. Rockstar never implemented a cash or money cheat in any version of the game, including PC. Websites advertising one are either misinformed or distributing malware, so earn money through Story Mode heists, the stock market missions, or legitimate Online activities.
Do cheats permanently disable Achievements?
They only disable Achievements and Trophies for the current session. Quit to the main menu, relaunch without entering any codes, and progression works normally again. Nothing about your save file is permanently flagged, so cheat freely once your completion goals are finished.
Can I use these codes in GTA Online?
Not at all. Every code is hard-restricted to Story Mode, and Rockstar’s anti-cheat treats injected effects in Online as modding. Penalties escalate from temporary suspensions to permanent bans and character wipes, so keep cheat experimentation strictly in single player.
