The name "Vice City" is a double entendre: on one hand, it is a direct reference to Michael Mann's 1980's police television series Miami Vice, but it also conveys the actual definition of the word, labeling Vice City a place of sin, greed and overindulgence; making it literally, a city of vice, hence the name of the game.

Cheat mode
Enter one of the following codes during game play or at the pause menu to activate the corresponding cheat function. The message "Cheat Activated" will appear to confirm correct code entry.
Weapons (tier 1) - thugstools
Weapons (tier 2) - professionaltools
Weapons (tier 3) - nuttertools
Armor - preciousprotection
Health1 - aspirine
Raise wanted level - youwonttakemealive
Lower wanted level - leavemealone
View media level when over two stars - chasestat
Good weather - apleasantday
Great weather - alovelyday
Sunny weather - abitdrieg
Stormy weather - catsanddogs
Foggy weather - cantseeathing
Rhino tank - panzer
Faster game clock - lifeispassingmeby
Faster game play - onspeed
Slower game play - booooooring
Destroy all cars - bigbang
Pedestrians riot - fightfightfight
Pedestrians attack you - nobodylikesme
Pedestrians have weapons - ourgodgivenrighttobeararms
Pedestrians enter your car - hopingirl
Change wheel size6 - loadsoflittlethings
Only wheels visible on cars - wheelsareallineed
Dodo cars (flying)2 - comeflywithme
Better driving skills7 - gripiseverything
Bikini women with guns4 - chickswithguns
Suicide - icanttakeitanymore
Heavy traffic - miamitraffic
Pink traffic - ahairdresserscar
Black traffic - iwantitpaintedblack
All traffic lights green - greenlight
Romero's Hearse - thelastride
Love Fist Limousine - rockandrollcar
Trashmaster - rubbishcar
Bloodring Banger (style 1) - travelinstyle
Bloodring Banger (style 2) - gettherequickly
Hotring Racer (style 1) - getthereamazinglyfast
Hotring Racer (style 2) - getthereveryfastindeed
Sabre Turbo - gettherefast
Caddy - betterthanwalking
Pedestrian costumes3 - stilllikedressingup
Lance Vance costume - looklikelance
Ken Rosenberg costume - mysonisalawyer
Hilary King costume - ilooklikehilary
Jezz Torent (Love Fist) costume - rockandrollman
Dick (Love Fist) costume - weloveourdick
Phil Cassaday costume - onearmedbandit
Sonny Forelli costume - idonthavethemoneysonny
Mercedes costume - foxylittlething
Cars float on water - seaways
Tommy groupies5 - fannymagnet or phanymagnet
Ricardo Diaz costume - cheatshavebeencracked
Tommy smokes cigarette - certaindeath
Tommy is fatter - deepfriedmarsbars
Tommy has thin arms and legs - programmer
Reguard target - airship

Change vehicle physics
Note: This procedure involves editing a game file; create a backup copy of the file before proceeding. Use a text editor to edit the "handling.cfg" file in the "grandtheftautovicecitydata" folder. You can change the velocity of the bikes, cars, boats, helicopters, and airplanes in the game.

Quick reload
When you run out of your clip, roll the mouse wheel up, then roll it back down quickly. The weapons you were using will already be reloaded.

Stoppie bonuses
It is possible to get up to 150 second stoppie bonuses with this trick. First, get a moped and drive to where there is a long, straight stretch of road. Press [Keypad 9] to lean forward, then use the brake. While you are doing a basic stoppie, release the brake and press the gas (while still holding [Keypad 9]). You should be able to "drive" on your one wheel for a long time. Note: You cannot turn or do anything else.

Wheelie bonuses
It is possible to get up to 500 second wheelie bonuses with this trick. You will either need a moped or a dirt bike. With a dirt bike, drive then do a wheelie. When you do the wheelie, you would normally hold the gas and [Keypad 6]. Instead of holding those until you flip over, get a pretty big wheelie then release the gas while still holding [Keypad 6]. If you are traveling at the correct speed, the dirt bike will keep doing a wheelie without the need for you to press the gas. To keep your momentum, tap the brake or the gas. With a moped, you need to listen to the sound. Start to do a wheelie and when you hear scraping sounds on the road, release the gas then quickly press it again before you go down to the ground. Try to keep letting the gas off and pressing the gas until the scrapping sound stops and you should be doing a steady wheelie.

Easy Guardian Angels mission
Enable the nuttertools code to get the minigun, then camp out in the corner, taking cover behind the car with flames painted on it. You can blow up each car as it passes by. Beware the one that comes from behind. Get away from the cars and enable the bigbang code to kill the man on the motorcycle. Then, recover the goods.

Easy Jury Fury mission
Upon reaching the first juror's car, do not let him notice you. Go away from the car and enable the bigbang code. The juror's car will explode and you will complete the mission without having to go to the second juror's hotel. Tommy Vercetti will be shown at the second juror's hotel with the car smashed.

Easy Stop The Robbery mission
Kill the man on the sign, then enable bigbang code for all of the men that follow.

Prostitute on bike
Get a motorcycle (PCJ) then look for a prostitute. When you find her, pause game play and enable the hopingirl code. The girl will get on the bike, hide in some bushes, and do her thing.

Glitch: Repeated glass shattering
Completely break off any vehicle's front window with a gun. Then, immediately press [F1] and press it again. As a result, the vehicle's glass will keep shattering every time you press [F1], even when there is no glass to break. Note: This may also work for the glasses in the malls or for the glasses on the street sides.

Phantom driver
Stop in front of any car and shoot at the window. As soon as the driver gets out of the car, immediately press [F1] for the replay effect then press the key again. The driver will be paused. You can even go through his body. You will notice that you cannot go into the driver's side of the door, but you can go in the passenger side if there was no one seated in it before. If you go inside the car on the passenger side you will be trapped there. Note: Do this glitch if you want to be hijack proof on the driver's side of the door.

Use any car for vigilante or taxi missions
Get into a police car or taxi and hold [Caps Lock]. Get out, go to another car, and release [Caps Lock]. You can now do the vigilante or taxi missions in that car.

Stand underwater
Take any sports car with tires that do not become big (for example, the Banshee). Enable the loadsoflittlethings code then drive straight into the water. If you land on a rock, you can get out of the car and stand underwater without getting wasted. If you do not land on a rock, you will feel as if you are going endlessly down nowhere, but will land far away.

Hold unknown weapons
Hold an ordinary weapon such as guns or the katana. You cannot be empty handed. While holding a weapon, enable the nuttertools code, then press [F1] for the replay effect. Then, immediately press [F1] again. You will be holding an "unknown" weapon. The weapon consists of everything in the scenery, such as trees, buildings, the sky, your surroundings, etc. To hold different "unknown" weapons, keep pressing [F1]. Note: This will cause your game to crash repeatedly exit to Windows. You will also experience unhandled exception error messages.

Invisible weapon inventory
Go to any Ammu-nation or hardware store in Vice City. Walk up to the pink marker and immediately throw a grenade. The cashier will be dead and all of the weapons in the inventory list will disappear except for the Body Armor. You can however still buy the invisible weapons. Note: You will not get any stars for doing this.

Hands free walk
While holding [Up], press [F1] at the same time then press it again. You will be walking without having to press any keys. This is helpful if you are tired of holding the same key. Use the mouse to control the direction in which you are moving. Note: This can be also done in different walking directions with the keyboard -- just make sure you press [F1] while doing so.