Grand Theft Auto 1 Movement

I dont think there is a specific name for that type of controller, its just a walk and steer simple algorithm :D

tank movement/control?

It's basically a first-person control scheme limited to two dimensions and viewed from overhead. To implement, you need a directional vector (either stored as a two-element vector, or as degrees/radians), and a velocity. Multiply those, divide by your time step each frame, and add to your old position to get the new position.

Other examples of games that use that type of control are Offroad and RC Pro-Am (both racing titles), and the early Resident Evil games (1-Nemesis, I think, as well as most contemporary Survival Horror games).

I'd call it steering, but you'll be steering a human in GTA; Asteroids is another very common example. I'd need to differentiate relative and absolute direction while programming movement controls.