If you do not own the PlayStation 2 version, you may still find it useful to study the controls for that format, since other pages may refer to those controls directly.
PlayStation 2
You can also see a map of controls in the game by pressing 
and selecting the controls option.
On foot
:
- Enter vehicle
- Activate mini-game
- Secondary attack while unarmed
- Pick up object
- Skip phone conversation
: Attack/fire weapon
:
- Run (hold)/sprint (tap rapidly)/skip cutscene
- Zoom out with sniper rifle/camera
:
- Jump/climb/block (while fighting)
- Zoom in with sniper rifle/camera
:
- Cycle weapons left
- Zoom in with sniper rifle/camera/pause map
:
- Center camera
- View vital stats about your character
- Fire weapon while targeted
:
- Switch weapons one to the right of your current one
- Zoom out with sniper rifle/camera/pause map
: Target an individual with the selected weapon
: (Push the left analog control inwards) Crouch (move while crouching to sneak)
: Cycle through available camera modes
: Pause menu/skip cutscene
(Push the right analog control inwards): Look behind CJ
: recruit gang members
: Gang sign to tell gang members to wait (briefly press button) or leave you (hold down button)
: Answer no when prompted for yes/no
: Answer yes when prompted for yes/no
In vehicle
- Accelerate
- Brake/Reverse
- Fire weapon
- Exit vehicle
- Change radio station/Nitros/Vehicle weapon
- Look to left of vehicle
- Handbrake
- Look to right of vehicle
- + Look behind vehicle
Steering- Horn/Siren/Lock hydraulics
Hydraulics/Vehicle weapon aim- Hydraulics/Start/End vehicle mission
Xbox
You can also see a map of controls in the game by pressing the START button and selecting the controls options.
Always
Pause menu
Cycle camera mode.
Rotate camera (except where otherwise noted) or switch camera in cinematic view
On foot
Move CJ
Crouch
Center camera; view stats; pick up object
Enter vehicle; activate minigame
Untargeted attack; weapon fire
Run (hold); sprint (tap rapidly)
Jump; climb
Cycle weapon left
Cycle weapon right
Recruit gang member (after targeting with right trigger)
Order gang member to be "passive" (press) or disperse (hold)
Negative response
Affirmative response
Melee
lock on target- attack; block
- secondary attack
Targeted shooting
- lock on target
- fire weapon
First-person shooting (as with a sniper rifle or camera)
- Shoot
- / Zoom in/out
- Shoot
- Aim
- Aim
- Return to Normal Controls
- Crouch
Vehicles
General
- Exit vehicle
- Hand brake
- Steering
- Camera rotate
- Look left (then A for drive-by)
- Look right (then A for drive-by)
- + Rear view
- / : Cycle radio stations
: Launch vehicle mission (where applicable)
Cars
- Accelerate
- Brake; reverse (when stopped)
- Nitrous boost
- Nitrous boost
- Trip Skip (when available)
- Turret control; hydraulics (when available)
Motorcycles
- Accelerate
- Front brake; back up (when stopped)
- Shoot machine pistol/SMG (if you have them)
/ 
Lean forward/backward- Rear brake
Bicycles
- Pedal (hold); pedal faster(tap)
- Front brake; back up (when stopped)
- Bunny hop (hold for higher hop)
- Rear brake
- Shoot machine pistol/SMG (if you have them)
- / Lean forward/backward
Aircraft
General
- Rudder (yaw) right
- Rudder (yaw) left
- Pitch (left/right); roll (forward/backward)
- Turret/camera
Helicopters
- Ascend
- Descend
- Hover
- Primary weapon
- Alternate weapon
Airplanes
- Thrust
- Reverse thrust
- Raise/lower landing gear
Boats
Swimming
- Move CJ
- Swim fast (hold)/faster(tap rapidly)
- Dive
- Climb out of water (into boat, perhaps)
- Control boat once you are in it
Xbox 360
On an Xbox 360 playing in backwards-compatibility mode, the right and left bumpers are mapped to the black and white buttons, respectively. Everything else is the same as in the Xbox section.
PC
You can also see a map of controls in the game by pressing Esc and selecting the controls options.
Once upon a time, there was a man named Joe. Joe was no ordinary man; Joe worked at McDonalds! Every day he got up, ate breakfast, and got on his work uniform. He was soon promoted to manager because he did such a great job flipping burgers. Then the rest of the McDonalds crew hated him because they wanted the position. After a while they got used to it. He was a great manager. He got paid very well. 50 dollars a week! But then one day Joe caught a cold. He was such a great worker, that he went to work that day, even though he felt miserable. The only problem with this was that he was sneezing a lot and getting germs everywhere. Soon the head honcho of the whole company, Ronald, came and said he was fired. Joe was heartbroken. Since he now had no job, he had to sell his house. Now Joe was homeless. Since people sometimes gave him money, he got more money then he had when he worked at McDonalds (which isn’t that hard to do). The next day, Joe stumbled upon a diamond the size of his head. He spent all the money he got from selling it on McDonalds food and is now roughly the size of a baby whale. Ever since he has been living in a cozy cardboard box with a great ocean view.
Here's another:
Once upon a time, there was a woman named Bob. Her parents had been drunk when they named her, so she had a kind of strange name for a woman. Anyway, Bob had a great career, a great husband (named Barbara), and was living the life of luxury. You see, Bob was a great novelist. She wrote stories left and right, and was always busy writing. She usually finished 20 novels a year. She wrote all kinds of stories, action, horror, romance, and comedy. The only problem with her life was that Bob is schizophrenic, and each of her personalities wrote different types of stories. Being schizophrenic wasn’t too bad. Until now. The part of her that wrote horror stories sometimes felt murderous, and the action-story-writing part of her always wanted action. So it didn’t want to live in a great mansion, writing stories all day. The horror and action parts of her teamed up, and sometimes when she was sleeping, took control. She didn’t even know it, but during the night, action and horror would wake her up, and take her to rob banks. Soon she was even richer, but she had no idea why! So one day she was lying in her bed, writing a story, as usual, when her husband Barbara came in and asked her why on Earth she had been getting up in the middle of the night and coming back with bags upon bags of cash. She didn’t know either, so they went to a doctor. He said that she was schizophrenic, but she already knew that. So then he told her to take some medicine to control her other personalities. She took it, and after a little while she started to only have one personality. But then another problem struck: she couldn’t write stories anymore. But this was soon to be solved when Barbara got a job as a chauffer. Since the people who he drove around were so rich, he got huge tips, and could support both him and Bob.
And another:
Once upon a time, there was a banana. His name was The Dancing Banana. The Dancing Banana was pretty much an average banana, except he was a dancing banana (obviously). He was pretty poor. He made a living by dancing on the streets. He even had a song to go with it. All he did every day was get up, dance, and go to sleep. He was very tired when he got home every day. One average day, he was having his lunch brake, when all of a sudden, God came down from the sky and said, O thou holy banana, you are hereby endowed with all my Godly powers. Then God disappeared with a slight popping sound. Fred was amazed. Here he was, drinking his soup, when God appears and gives him all his powers. He’s just and average banana, right? Well not anymore! The first thing he did was to give himself super-dancing abilities, and that anyone who watches him dance is hypnotized and gives him all their money. He was soon living in bliss. He only had to dance for an hour and he would get thousands of dollars. But after a while he felt bad about taking everyone’s money. But since he now was so rich and lazy, he did nothing to give it back. Soon he got bored of this life-style and made himself a crown. With his Godly powers he created Mount Olympus and gave himself a thrown on top of it. He summoned a magic mage-phone and said into it, “I am now ruler of all you puny humans, so BOW DOWN!” They all bowed to his supreme greatness. He lived this way for years, until one day, he was having his servants peel grapes and feed them to him, when all of a sudden, God came down from the heavens and said: “I like your style of smiting people. We should be partners in ruling.” “NEVER!” shouted The Great Banana. And with that God was smited, and all bananas lived happily ever after, while all humans that didn't give The Dancing Banana the tips he deservered were smited by anvils coming down on all of their heads and laser beams and just plain old spontaineously combusting and random other death-causing ailments.
What do you guys think? And Omega_Paladin, is it okay if I write a story about the greatness and ultimate power of the Dancing Banana?
- EDIT* Omega_Paladin you took too long to reply, so I wrote the story.
On foot
- W , A , S , D : Move CJ
- C : Crouch
- Shift : Jump
- LAlt (Left) : Sneak
- Space : Run (hold); sprint (tap rapidly)
: Fire
: Aim- + ← : Roll left (when crouched)
- + → : Roll right (when crouched)
- G : Recruit gang member (after targeting with ); call gang members to CJ
- H : Order gang member to be "passive" (press) or disperse (hold)
- Y : Positive response
- N : Negative response
Vehicles
General
- Q : Look left
- E : Look right
- A : Turn left
- D : Turn right
- Q + E ,
: Rear view - NUM4 : Switch camera in cinematic view
- 2 : Launch vehicle mission (where applicable)
- Caps Lock , H : Sound horn/bell; sirens on and off
Cars
- W : Accelerate
- S : Brake; reverse (when stopped)
- Ctrl , : Nitrous boost
- NUM2 , NUM4 , NUM6 , NUM8 : Hydraulics
Motorcycles
- W : Accelerate
- S : Front brake; back up (when stopped)
- ↑ / ↓ : Lean forward/backward
Bicycles
- W : Pedal (hold); pedal faster (tap)
- S : Front brake; back up (when stopped)
- LShift : Bunny Hop (hold for higher hop)
- ↑ / ↓ : Lean forward/backward
Aircraft
General
- Q : Rudder (yaw) left
- E : Rudder (yaw) right
- ←, A : Roll left
- →, D : Roll right
- ↑ : Pitch down
- ↓ : Pitch up
Helicopters
- W : Ascend
- S : Descend
- Caps Lock , H : Hover
Airplanes
- W : Thrust
- S : Reverse thrust
- 2 : Raise/lower landing gear
Boats
Swimming
- Space : To Dive (tap rapidly) / use to guide.
Falling
- : Activate parachute
- W : Pitch down (fall faster)
- S : Descend slower (with parachute)