No, I did not mean a loop, just route the cable making a big radius curve. Tie the cable where it exits from the tunnel from the shifter and then make as big of radius curve(s) as possible to get it back to the transmission.
FYI, I pulled a transmission all apart and the transmission has spring detent to mark the various gear settings. Then only 1 mechanical linkage into the transmission itself, the park paul. The gears are electronically selected by switches in the little black box with the connector / cable running to the TCM.