Do GTA 5 Cheats Save? Which Ones Persist and Which Reset on Reload

Short version: no GTA 5 cheat code is ever saved to your file. Every effect you turn on with a button combo, a keyboard code or a phone number is wiped the moment you reload a save or restart the game. Your progress itself is never at risk, but the cheat has to be typed in again from scratch every single time you want it back.

That confuses a lot of players because the game does let you save with a cheat running, which makes it look like the effect should stick. It does not. Here is exactly what survives a reload, what does not, and why Rockstar built it that way.

The essentials

• Saving is always allowed while a cheat is active. Rockstar's own support page confirms it: "Saving is allowed when cheat codes are enabled but achievements are temporarily disabled."
• No cheat effect (weapons, invincibility, spawned vehicles, wanted level changes, weather) carries over after you reload a save or reboot the game. You have to re-enter every code again.
• Trophies and achievements only pause for the current session. Reload your save or restart GTA 5 and they are automatically re-enabled, no penalty, no permanent flag on your file.
• Cheats cannot be bound to a favorite or saved anywhere in the phone menu. You either remember the code or look it up again next time.
• Timed effects like invincibility (5 minutes) or slow motion wear off on their own well before you would ever reload, so they were never designed to persist in the first place.
• None of this touches your save file's integrity. Cheats will not corrupt a save, block 100% completion, or get you banned, because Rockstar shipped them as an intentional, official feature.

Why cheats reset on every reload

GTA 5's single-player cheats are not stored as part of your character or world state. They are runtime flags the game checks every frame while you play, and that check is thrown away the instant a save file loads. Loading a save rebuilds the world from what was written to disk, and cheat flags were deliberately excluded from that data.

Rockstar has an obvious reason to design it this way. Story mode cheats give free weapons, armor, wanted-level control and vehicle spawns that would otherwise cost time or money to get "properly." If a single cheat activation could permanently alter a save, players could effectively cheat their way through 100% completion checklists, speedrun categories or Rockstar-tracked stats without any way to undo it. Making every cheat a temporary, session-only toggle keeps the save file honest no matter how many codes you type in.

It also protects GTA Online, where none of these codes work at all. Because story mode cheats never touch persistent save data, there is no risk of a workaround letting cheat effects leak into an online character.

What actually happens when you save with a cheat on

You can hit save with invincibility, all weapons, or a spawned Buzzard active and nothing bad happens to the file. The game simply:

1. Writes your real progress (missions completed, money, owned vehicles, stats) to the save slot as normal.
2. Does not write any note that a cheat was active.
3. Temporarily disables new trophy and achievement unlocks for as long as any cheat, cheat-spawned effect, or off-mission cheat state is active.

Reload that same file later and the game boots with every cheat off. Weapons you got from TOOLUP are gone unless you actually owned them before. Vehicles you spawned are gone unless you drove them into a garage you own. Your wanted level, health, and movement speed are back to whatever they would normally be. The only thing genuinely permanent is your regular, cheat-free progress.

How long each type of cheat effect actually lasts

Not every cheat behaves the same way even within a single session. Some wear off on a timer, some stay on until you retype the code, and a few get cancelled automatically the moment you start a mission.

Cheat	Code (PC)	How long it lasts
Invincibility	PAINKILLER	5 minutes, then wears off automatically
Max health and armor	TURTLE	Instant, one-time top-up, not an ongoing effect
Give all weapons	TOOLUP	Weapons stay in your inventory until session ends or reload
Super jump	HOPTOIT	Stays on until you enter the code again
Raise wanted level	FUGITIVE	Instant, then behaves like a normal wanted level
Lower wanted level	LAWYERUP	Instant, then behaves like a normal wanted level
Change weather	MAKEITRAIN	Stays until you cycle it again or the game changes weather naturally
Slidey cars	SNOWDAY	Stays on until you enter the code again
Slow motion	SLOWMO	Stays on (cycles through 3 speeds) until turned off
Spawn a vehicle (Comet, Buzzard, PCJ-600, etc.)	Varies	The vehicle exists in the world until it despawns or you store it in an owned garage

Every single row resets the moment you load a save or restart the game, no exceptions. See the full story mode cheat list for the complete set of codes and every platform's input method, including how to enter them with a controller.

The one exception people assume exists but does not: unlocking things "for good"

A common question is whether using a vehicle-spawn cheat like the Comet or the Buzzard early in the game "unlocks" that vehicle permanently, the way collecting a car for your garage would. It does not. A cheat-spawned vehicle is not registered to your character. If you want to keep a car, you have to physically drive it into a garage you own and let the game save it there through normal means, completely independent of the cheat that spawned it in.

The same logic applies to weapons. TOOLUP fills your inventory instantly, but if you reload before buying those same guns from an Ammu-Nation or picking them up through story progress, they disappear along with the rest of the cheat's effects.

Trophies and achievements: paused, not lost

This is the part of the "saveable" question that trips people up most, so it is worth being precise. Activating any cheat pauses trophy and achievement progress for that session only. It does not:

• Delete trophies you already earned
• Block you from earning them later
• Leave any permanent flag on your save file

Reload your save, restart the console or PC, or simply start a fresh session without cheats, and trophy tracking comes right back online. For the full mechanics and a walkthrough of exactly what re-enables progress, see our dedicated guide to how GTA 5 cheats interact with trophies.

Quick FAQ

Can cheats corrupt my GTA 5 save file? No. Cheats are an official Rockstar feature built into the game engine, not a mod or external tool, so they cannot corrupt a save or break your progress.

Do cheats carry over into GTA Online? No. Single-player cheat codes only function in story mode and have no effect on your GTA Online character or economy.

If I fast travel, sleep, or watch a cutscene, does that reset a cheat? Some off-mission cheats deactivate automatically the moment you start a mission, but sleeping, fast traveling, or a normal cutscene will not clear an active cheat on their own. Only reloading a save, restarting the game, or entering the code again will.

Do GTA 5 cheats still work in 2026? Yes, on every currently supported platform. See our breakdown of which codes still work today for platform-by-platform confirmation.

Is there a way to make a cheat permanent? No, and Rockstar has never patched in that option across any GTA V release. Every code, from the original PS3 and Xbox 360 versions to the current-gen release, is designed to reset on reload by default.

Bottom line: nothing you type into GTA 5's cheat console, controller combo, or phone gets written to your save file. Treat every cheat as a one-session toggle, keep your code list handy for next time, and use the game's real save system for anything you actually want to keep.