GTA: Chinatown Wars plays less like the later games in the GTA series and more like the top down GTA games of the past. GTA: Chinatown Wars does have a few features not found in the later games. Chief among these is the supply/demand based drug dealing system where it is possible to buy low and sell high if you visit the right dealers. There are also scratch cars that can be bought to win money or free food.
Since GTA: CTW was originally a DS game there are a few existing touchscreen features. When jacking certain cars the player