← Blog · Guide · August 25, 2026
GTA: Vice City Controls — Keyboard, Mouse, Touch and Gamepad
Vice City predates the modern control conventions most people have muscle memory for, so the first five minutes can feel awkward. Here is the full layout for the free browser version, which uses standard PC bindings.
Keyboard and mouse
| Action | Control |
|---|---|
| Move | W A S D |
| Camera | Mouse |
| Fire | Left mouse button |
| Enter / exit vehicle | F |
| Sprint | Left Shift |
| Jump | Space |
| Pause / menu | Esc |
In a vehicle, W and S are accelerate and brake, A and
D steer, and Space is the handbrake — which is what you want for
almost every corner in this game.
Touch controls on phone and tablet
Touch controls appear automatically on phones and tablets — virtual sticks for movement and camera, with the action buttons laid over the right side of the screen. Nothing to enable and nothing to install. Full detail in how to play Vice City on your phone.
Gamepad
A connected controller is picked up automatically. Plug in or pair a gamepad before you launch, and the browser passes it straight through to the engine. This is the closest you will get to the original console feel, and it is noticeably better for driving than keyboard.
Things worth knowing before you start
- Aiming is not modern. Vice City auto-targets. You hold fire and Tommy locks onto the nearest enemy — do not expect to aim precisely with the mouse in a firefight.
- Drive-by shooting works from a vehicle with the right weapons. The Uzi and the Colt Python are the useful ones.
- Motorbikes eject you on a hard front impact. Feature, not bug.
- Esc pauses, but the browser tab keeps running. The engine keeps the world simulating in the background, so do not leave a mission paused for an hour.
Cheat entry
Classic cheats are typed on the keyboard during gameplay, not paused — just start typing
PANZER and a tank appears. The browser build also has a menu: launch with
?cheats=1 on the URL and press F3 in game for every classic cheat plus
extras like noclip. Full list in the
cheat codes guide.
Performance tips
The first launch pulls about 163 MB before the menu appears, then streams the rest of the world on demand as you drive into it. A desktop browser on a solid connection gives the best result. If it feels slow, that is usually bandwidth rather than your machine — the WebAssembly explainer covers why.
Ready? The free browser version loads straight into the game.
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