Los Santos is a stressful place. One minute you're cruising down Del Perro Pier, and the next, a LSPD cruiser clips your fender, sparking a five-star manhunt that ends in a hail of gunfire. We've all been there. It’s why GTA 5 cheat codes PS4 remain some of the most searched strings of inputs in gaming history. Even years after the initial release, the tactile satisfaction of tapping out a sequence of D-pad presses and face buttons to make a Buzzard Attack Helicopter materialize out of thin air is unmatched. It feels like magic. Or maybe just a very well-executed exploit.
Cheat codes are a dying breed in modern gaming, replaced by microtransactions and "time-savers." But Rockstar Games kept the flame alive. They didn't bury these behind a paywall. They’re baked into the engine. You just need the muscle memory.
The Muscle Memory of Chaos: How GTA 5 Cheat Codes PS4 Actually Work
Let's get the technical stuff out of the way first. You have two ways to break the law in Los Santos. You can pull up your in-game cell phone and dial specific numbers, or you can go old school with the controller. Personally? I’m a controller guy. There is something visceral about hitting R1, R1, Circle, R2, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left to lower your wanted level while a helicopter is literally hovering over your head. It’s a rhythmic dance.
If you mess up one button, the whole thing fails. You have to be fast. The game doesn't pause while you're doing this, so if you're trying to activate Invincibility (Right, X, Right, Left, Right, R1, Right, Left, X, Triangle) while taking fire, you better have fast thumbs.
The Invincibility Catch
Everyone wants to be God. But in GTA 5, Godhood is temporary. The Invincibility cheat only lasts for five minutes. It’s a countdown. You’ll see a little timer in the bottom right corner of your screen ticking down to your inevitable mortality. When that timer hits zero, those bullets start hurting again.
It’s also important to remember that these codes are "session-only." If you turn off your PS4 or PS5, or if you reload a save, the cheats are gone. You have to re-enter them every single time.
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Why Your Trophies Just Stopped Popping
Here is the big warning. This is the part people always forget and then get mad about later. Activating any GTA 5 cheat codes PS4 will disable Trophies for your current play session. If you're hunting for that Platinum, do not—I repeat, do not—save your game after using a cheat. The game will usually give you a little warning, but it’s easy to ignore when you’re busy spawning a Stunt Plane in the middle of a freeway. The best way to handle this is to have a "Chaos Save." Create a separate save file where you just go nuts with cheats, and keep your "Legit Save" clean for story progression and trophy hunting. If you use a cheat, the only way to get trophies back is to reload a save from before the cheat was activated.
Movement and World Manipulation
Sometimes you don't want a tank. Sometimes you just want to feel like the world is a little bit weirder.
- Drunk Mode: Triangle, Right, Right, Left, Right, Square, Circle, Left. This makes the camera wobble and the controls sluggish. It’s hilarious for about three minutes until you actually try to drive.
- Fast Run: Triangle, Left, Right, Right, L2, L1, Square. You’ll move like an Olympic sprinter on caffeine.
- Super Jump: Left, Left, Triangle, Triangle, Right, Right, Left, Right, Square, R1, R2. Hold the jump button for a higher leap. It’s basically the closest thing to playing as a superhero in vanilla GTA.
- Skyfall: L1, L2, R1, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right, L1, L2, R1, R2, Left, Right, Left, Right. This teleports you into the sky for a high-altitude skydive. No parachute included. You better hope you're good at aiming for water.
Spawning the Heavy Metal
The vehicle cheats are the bread and butter of the GTA 5 cheat codes PS4 experience. When you're stuck in the middle of the Grand Senora Desert with no car in sight, these are literal lifesavers.
The Buzzard is the GOAT. It’s small, it’s fast, and it has missiles. To get it, you hit Circle, Circle, L1, Circle, Circle, Circle, L1, L2, R1, Triangle, Circle, Triangle. It needs a bit of space to spawn, so don't try to do it in a narrow alleyway or it might just explode on contact with a wall.
If you want something classier, the Comet is a solid choice: R1, Circle, R2, Right, L1, L2, X, X, Square, R1. It’s fast, handles well, and looks great in the Vinewood Hills. For the off-road enthusiasts, the Sanchez dirt bike is Circle, X, L1, Circle, Circle, L1, Circle, R1, R2, L2, L1, L1. It’s arguably the best vehicle for scaling Mount Chiliad because of its climb rate and slim profile.
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The "Everything is Exploding" Combat Cheats
If you're looking to turn Los Santos into a Michael Bay movie, you need the offensive cheats.
Explosive Melee Attacks: Right, Left, X, Triangle, R1, Circle, Circle, Circle, L2. Every time you punch someone, it creates a literal explosion. It’s ridiculous. It’s loud. It’s extremely dangerous because you can easily blow yourself up if you hit a car or a wall too close to your face.
Then there are Explosive Ammo (Bang Bang): Right, Square, X, Left, R1, R2, Left, Right, Right, L1, L1, L1. This makes every bullet act like a tiny grenade. Combine this with Slow Motion Aim: Square, L2, R1, Triangle, Left, Square, L2, Right, X. The slow-mo effect can be stacked up to three times by entering the code repeatedly. The fourth time disables it. It gives you that "Max Payne" feeling where you can pick off targets with pinpoint precision while everything around you is erupting in flames.
Director Mode: The Hidden Gem
While technically not a "button cheat," Director Mode is accessible through the Interaction Menu (hold the Touchpad) or by dialing "Acting Up" on the phone (1-999-57-825368). This is where the real power lies.
In Director Mode, you can play as almost any NPC or animal you’ve unlocked. You can change the weather, the time of day, and even toggle "Explosive Bullets" or "Super Jump" through a menu without having to remember the button combinations. It’s essentially a built-in mod menu for the PS4 version. If you want to make a short film or just experiment with the game's physics without the UI getting in the way, this is where you go.
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Practical Tactics for Using Cheats
Don't just mash buttons. There’s a strategy to this.
- Lowering Wanted Level is your best friend. If you’re trying to complete a difficult task and the cops won't leave you alone, keep the R1, R1, Circle, R2, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left combo in your back pocket. It drops one star per entry.
- Health and Armor. If your screen is flashing red, hit Circle, L1, Triangle, R2, X, Square, Circle, Right, Square, L1, L1, L1. This instantly refills your health and armor bars. It also repairs your vehicle if you’re sitting inside one.
- The Parachute. If you’re using the Skyfall cheat or jumping out of a burning plane, you need a chute: Left, Right, L1, L2, R1, R2, R2, Left, Left, Right, L1. Use it before you hit the ground. Obviously.
The Philosophy of Cheating in Los Santos
There’s a segment of the gaming community that thinks cheats ruin the "integrity" of the game. Honestly? In a game like GTA 5, that’s nonsense. Rockstar built this world as a sandbox. Cheats are just the shovels and buckets.
Using GTA 5 cheat codes PS4 doesn't take away from the story of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor. It just lets you bypass the friction of the game's systems when you want to have pure, unadulterated fun. Whether it’s changing the weather to "Stormy" (R2, X, L1, L1, L2, L2, L2, Square) to set a moody tone for a drive, or turning on "Slippery Cars" (Triangle, R1, R1, Left, R1, L1, R2, L1) to turn the highway into an ice rink, cheats are about expression.
Common Misconceptions
One thing people always ask is if there is a "Money Cheat."
There is no money cheat in GTA 5. Rockstar wants you to engage with the heist system and the stock market. If they gave you a button combo for a billion dollars, you’d never play the missions. The closest you can get is using cheats to survive long enough to rob armored trucks or by manipulating the LCN and BAWSAQ markets during the Lester Assassination missions. Anyone telling you there’s a secret "Up, Down, L1, R1" code for cash is lying to you.
Another myth is that you can spawn the big Jumbo Jet or the cargo plane. You can't. Those models are too big for the spawning system to handle safely without clipping into buildings and exploding instantly. You have to go to the airport and steal those the old-fashioned way.
Actionable Next Steps
To make the most of your next session, here is what you should do:
- Create a dedicated "Cheat Save" so you don't accidentally lock yourself out of trophies on your main file.
- Memorize the "Lower Wanted Level" and "Health/Armor" codes. These are the most useful in a pinch.
- Try Director Mode. It offers far more control over the environment than standard cheats and lets you explore the world from the perspective of a deer or a Bigfoot if you’ve found the right peyote plants.
- Combine cheats. Try using "Moon Gravity" with "Super Jump" and "Fast Run." The physics engine starts to do some very weird, very fun things when you layer these effects on top of each other.
The beauty of Los Santos is that it’s yours to break. The codes are there. The buttons are waiting. Just remember to watch the five-minute timer on your invincibility, or that five-star wanted level is going to get real very fast.