Let’s be honest for a second. Playing The Ballad of Gay Tony (TBoGT) the way Rockstar intended—patiently driving through traffic, waiting for your health to regen, and scrounging for ammo—is fine. It’s okay. But it’s not exactly the "vibe" of 2009-era Liberty City. This expansion was always about the excess, the neon, and the over-the-top violence that the base GTA IV lacked. Using GTA Gay Tony cheats isn't just about making the game easier; it’s about leaning into the absolute chaos that Luis Lopez was born to handle.
I remember the first time I loaded this up back on the Xbox 360. Coming off the gritty, grey depression of Niko Bellic’s story, TBoGT felt like a punch in the face. It was colorful. It was fast. And the cheats? They were legendary. Whether you're playing on an old console or through the GTA IV: The Complete Edition on a modern PC, knowing which codes to punch into your in-game phone changes the entire experience.
The Specific Magic of TBoGT Codes
Most people think a cheat is just a shortcut. Wrong. In The Ballad of Gay Tony, the cheats are practically a gameplay mechanic. Think about the explosive sniper rifle or the golden SMG. These aren't just tools; they’re the soul of the game. If you aren't spawning a Buzzard attack helicopter on a skyscraper roof, are you even playing?
The mechanics here differ slightly from GTA V. You have to pull out Luis’s phone, navigate to the keypad, and dial specific numbers. Once you've entered them once, they stay in your "Cheats" menu. This makes things much faster for the next time you're being chased by half the LCPD.
One thing you've gotta remember: using these will block certain achievements or trophies for that session. If you’re a completionist, save your game before you start raining fire from the sky. It's a small price to pay for literal godhood in the Star Junction.
Spawning the Heavy Hitters
The vehicles in this DLC were a massive upgrade. We finally got the stuff that made San Andreas fun.
If you want the Buzzard Attack Helicopter, dial 359-555-0100. This thing is the king of the sky. It has rockets. It has a minigun. It’s small enough to weave between the cranes in Algonquin. Honestly, the game feels empty without it.
Need something for the ground? The APC (Noose Tank) is your best friend. Dial 272-555-0160. It’s slow, sure, but it’s basically an unstoppable brick that shoots cannon shells. It makes the "Going Deep" mission—the one with the sticky bombs and the secret agents—look like a playground fight.
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The Essential Survival Kit
Sometimes you don't want a tank. You just want to not die.
- Health and Armor: 482-555-0100. This is the one you’ll use the most. It refills your health, gives you full body armor, and even repairs your car if you’re sitting in one. It’s a literal lifesaver when those Annihilator helicopters start circling you.
- Wanted Level Down: 267-555-0150. Sometimes the heat is just too much. Dial this to lose those stars instantly.
- Weapon Set 1: 486-555-0100. This gives you the basics.
- Weapon Set 2: 486-555-0150. This is where the fun starts. It includes the advanced sniper and the explosive shotgun.
Why the Explosive Sniper Changes Everything
There’s a specific nuance to GTA Gay Tony cheats that many players overlook. The "Advanced Sniper" isn't just a long-range tool. In TBoGT, it fires explosive rounds. If you use the weapon cheat to grab this, you can take down a police Maverick in one shot. One.
It feels broken. Because it is.
But in the context of Luis Lopez’s life—balancing Tony’s drug-induced meltdowns and the Mori Kibbutz ego trips—having an explosive sniper feels like the only logical response. It’s the ultimate "leave me alone" button.
I've spent hours just perched on top of the Maisonette 9 roof, picking off distant engine blocks. The physics engine in GTA IV (the RAGE engine) handles explosions with a weight that even GTA V doesn't quite match. Cars don't just blow up; they flip, twist, and crush in a way that feels dangerously real.
The "Special" TBoGT Exclusive Cheats
Rockstar added a few specific ones just for this expansion. They wanted to emphasize the "Ballad" part of the title.
Change Weather: 468-555-0100. This cycles through the different atmospheric presets. If you want that moody, rainy Liberty City look for a cinematic drive, this is it.
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The Parachute: 359-555-0110. You cannot forget the parachute. TBoGT reintroduced base jumping to the franchise. If you’re flying a Buzzard and it’s about to explode, you better have this code memorized or already sitting in your phone menu. There is nothing more humiliating than Luis Lopez falling 1,000 feet to his death because you forgot to pack a silk bag.
The "Infinite Money" Myth
Let's clear this up. There is no direct "Give Me $1,000,000" cheat in The Ballad of Gay Tony. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a bridge in Broker.
The closest you get is using the health/armor/ammo cheats to ensure you never fail a mission, combined with doing the Drug Wars. The Drug Wars are side missions where you help Armando and Henrique. They pay out well, and as you complete more, better weapons spawn at your safehouse.
If you really need cash, use the APC cheat to breeze through the "L.C. Cage Fighters" missions. Betting on yourself and then using the health cheat between rounds (if you’re quick) is a cheesy but effective way to stack your bank account. It’s grindy, but hey, the nightlife in Liberty City is expensive.
Glitches That Act Like Cheats
Beyond the phone codes, TBoGT has some "emergent" cheats—basically bugs that we all just accepted as features.
Ever tried the Swing Set Glitch? It still works in the DLC. If you take a car to the playground in Firefly Island and drive into the swings, the physics engine loses its mind. It will launch your car across the map at Mach 5. It's not a "cheat code," but it's a rite of passage for every GTA fan.
Then there's the "Teleportation" trick. If you're in a mission and need to get across the map, you can sometimes use the taxi service, but if you've triggered a 4-star wanted level, taxis won't pick you up. However, if you use the "Clear Wanted Level" cheat while standing near a taxi, you can instantly warp to your destination and skip the drive. It’s the "pro" way to speedrun the more tedious travel segments of the game.
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Managing the Technical Side
If you are playing on PC in 2026, you're likely using the Complete Edition. A word of warning: the game’s physics are tied to the framerate. If you’re running at 144Hz, the "Health and Armor" cheat might not always fix your car correctly, or Luis might move weirdly. Locking your FPS to 60 generally makes the cheats—and the game—behave a lot better.
Also, if you're using a controller on PC, the phone interface can be a bit clunky. I always recommend mapping a "shortcut" in your mind: Up, Up, Enter. That opens the phone and goes straight to the last dialed number. Speed is everything when you're under fire.
Making the Most of the Chaos
The real beauty of GTA Gay Tony cheats lies in the creative combinations.
Don't just spawn a bike. Spawn a Bati 800 (625-555-0150), drive it off the top of the Rotterdam Tower, and use the Parachute cheat mid-air. That is the quintessential TBoGT experience. It’s about the verticality.
Luis is a character who is constantly being pulled down by the people around him—Tony’s debts, his mom’s worries, his friends’ incompetence. Using cheats is the only way to let him actually fly.
Actionable Next Steps for Players
- First Order of Business: Get through the first three missions manually. This unlocks the full map and ensures your save file is stable.
- The Menu Shortcut: Dial every cheat code once immediately. This saves them to your "Cheats" menu in the phone so you never have to type the numbers again.
- The "Safety" Save: Always keep a clean save file where you haven't used cheats. This is for when you want to actually earn those "Gold Star" mission rankings, as cheats will often disable the ability to get 100% on a mission.
- Experiment with Physics: Use the explosive sniper (Weapon Set 2) on the tires of a moving bus. The RAGE engine's reaction to high-speed blowouts is something you have to see to appreciate.
Liberty City is a grim place in the base game. But with Luis Lopez and a few choice phone numbers, it becomes a neon-soaked playground where the rules of gravity and law enforcement are merely suggestions. Go break the game. It's what Gay Tony would want.